FORT MYERS, Fla.- Two more Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers have inked NCAA Division I Letters of Intent recently as pitcher Rafael Santos will remain in the Sunshine State and head to the University of North Florida while slugger Tyler Solomon will play at William & Mary in Virginia next season.
Santos was a Second Team All-Suncoast Conference pick for the Bucs this season. The lefty started a team high 14 games, going 4-5 on the year. He logged 64 2/3 innings for FSW, posting a 3.62 ERA while allowing less than a hit per inning on the mound. Santos put together his best stretch of the year midway through the season when he fired seven scoreless innings in a 5-0 win over Pasco-Hernando and backed that up with five shutout frames against Miami Dade seven days later.
Santos will join a North Florida squad coming off of a 30 win campaign which included wins over Missouri, Florida, and FAU. The Ospreys were 12-11 in ASUN action in 2019, advancing to the conference tournament where they went 1-2 with both losses coming to eventual tournament champions Liberty.
Solomon played one season for the Purple and Aqua after transferring to FSW from Vanderbilt where he played his freshman year. He was the only Buc to play in all 54 games this season for the Suncoast Conference Champions, while leading the team in home runs with five and finishing third on the club with 43 runs scored. With a patient approach at the plate, Solomon led the state of Florida and finished eighth nationally, walking 50 times on the season to turn in a .364 on base percentage on the year.
Solomon will head to historic Williamsburg to play for the Tribe who are coming off of a 33-22 record in 2019. W&M posted series sweeps of both Big South Champions Campbell and Colonial Champions UNC-Wilmington during the regular season before advancing to the CAA Semifinals at season's end.
With Santos and Solomon inked up, FSW now has 10 players signed to play at the Division I level next season, the most in a single season in program history.