CLEARWATER, FLA.- The #4 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers made another late comeback Friday night at St. Petersburg, but couldn't hold the lead, falling to the Titans 11-10 to drop back to back games for just the second time this season.
St. Petersburg scored first, getting a run in the second after a leadoff walk and a two out single to take an early 1-0 lead.
The Bucs answered in the third, getting a sacrifice fly from Connor Bagnieski to tie it and then a two run single from Jose Marcano and a two run double from Nathan Kinsch with two outs to take a 5-1 lead of their own.
The Titans evened things up in the bottom half of the inning, scoring four times with two outs to make it a 5-5 game.
St. Pete retook the lead with three more runs in the fourth and held that 8-5 lead through six innings of action.
A two out RBI double from Bagnieski in the seventh got the Bucs back to within two at 8-6, but the Titans got a run on a wild pitch in the bottom half of the frame to push it back to a three run cushion at 9-6.
With time running out, the Bucs roared back in the eighth, getting a two run triple from Tyler Solomon to get back to within one and an RBI single from Josh McAllister to knot the score at nine. Later in the inning Shamir Morales drove home McAllister with a two out single, putting the Bucs back ahead 10-9.
But the Bucs couldn't hold the lead. A hit batter and a walk put two on with nobody out in the eighth for the Titans and a wild pitch plated the equalizer to make it 10-10. Later in the inning a two out single pushed the second run of the inning home to make it 11-10.
Down to their final three outs, the Bucs put up a fight, putting two on with one out, but a strikeout and a lineout ended the threat and gave the Titans the series opener 11-10.
The game featured 29 hits, 15 for St. Pete and 14 for FSW. Eight of nine Buc starters had a hit in the contest with Solomon and Marcano leading the way with two hits and two RBI's apiece. Four of five FSW pitchers allowed runs in the game with Marc Davis suffering the loss, allowing two earned runs without allowing a hit to fall to 0-1 on the year.
The Bucs drop their second straight to fall to 23-5 overall and 5-2 in Suncoast Conference play. St. Petersburg improves to 11-14 overall and 4-3 in league action.
The same two teams will make the trip down I-75 to Fort Myers on Saturday when they will go head to head in a 1 PM first pitch at City of Palms Park.