Paul Winland (Photo by Roy Allen)
Posted: Mar 16, 2022
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #16 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers put together an 18 hit attack including a pair of home runs from Ronny Medina and Hernando Alvarez to race past the visiting ASA Miami Silver Storm 17-6 Wednesday afternoon at City of Palms Park in Downtown Fort Myers.
The Bucs scored early and often against the Silver Storm Wednesday, jumping on ASA right off the bat in the 1st with RBI singles from Paxton Tomaini and Simon Baumer to take a quick 2-0 lead.
FSW was sloppy on defense in the 2nd, committing three errors, leading to ASA's first run of the game to cut their lead to 2-1.
The Bucs got the run right back in the bottom of the frame when Ronny Medina lifted a solo home run up and out to left to push the lead back to two at 3-1.
FSW blew the game open in the 3rd as Tomaini doubled to left center to drive home a pair and Hernando Alvarez beat out an infield single to allow another run to score to make it 7-1.
Alejandro Valiente kept it a 7-1 game through four, striking out the side in the top of the 4th before exiting his best outing of the season.
As the Bucs went to the bullpen in the 5th, the Silver Storm got back into the game, stringing together six hits to score four times and make it a two run game at 7-5.
The Bucs answered right away though as Paul Winland picked up his second hits of the game with a single up the middle and Kalvin Alexander walked in front of a three run home run from Alvarez to quickly stretch the Bucs lead back out to 10-5. FSW added another tally later in the inning to match the Silver Storm's four in the top half to make it 11-5 after five complete.
FSW was right back at it in the 6th as Winland ripped an RBI single to right to make it 12-5 and back to back errors on the Silver Storm gifted the Bucs another run to push the lead to 13-5. Later in the frame Braden Forchic barreled an RBI double to center, cushioning the FSW lead to 14-5.
After ASA got an unearned run on an FSW error in the 7th, the Bucs scored three more in the 8th for good measure, as Forchic and Baumer added to their big days with RBI knocks to balloon the lead to 17-6.
Grant Besser came in for the 9th and worked an unconventional 1-2-3 inning thanks to a double play, finishing the Silver Storm off as the Bucs closed out a 17-6 victory.
The scoreboard at City of Palms Park was nearly fully illuminated at the end of the day as FSW outhit ASA 18-8 while the two teams combined for 11 errors, six on the Silver Storm and five on the Bucs.
Forchic recorded his second straight multi-hit game with a 4-6 effort and two RBIs while Alvarez was 2-4 with his first collegiate home run and four RBIs for FSW. Tomaini and Baumer each had two hits and combined for five RBIs in the middle of the Bucs order while Winland finished 3-5 with a pair of runs scored.
Valiente earned the win to improve to 2-1 on the year, going four innings and allowing just two hits and one unearned run for FSW. Ben Petschke, Riley Skeen, and Grant Besser all threw scoreless frames out of the bullpen.
The win is the eighth straight for FSW who improves to 20-11 on the year while ASA drops to 7-19.
The Bucs will return to Suncoast Conference play Saturday when they travel to Bradenton to begin a three game set with rival State College of Florida.