FORT MYERS, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers won their sixth straight game Wednesday afternoon at City of Palms Park in Downtown Fort Myers, jumping out to an early lead and never relinquishing it in a 5-3 victory over Indian River.
The game started picture perfect for the Bucs as Ronaldo Fernandez worked a flawless 1-2-3 top of the 1st and FSW came out swinging in the bottom half of the frame.
The Bucs took an early lead on an unusual play as Yadiel Santana grounded a ball up the middle that deflected off of the Indian River pitcher and subsequently the Pioneers shortstop threw his glove at the ball, by rule, advancing each runner three bases, which allowed two runs to score and Santana to go all the way to third, giving the Bucs a 2-0 lead. One batter later Santana scored on a wild pitch to put FSW in front 3-0. Later in the inning Jordan Campbell doubled down the left field line, bringing home his twin brother Jared, giving the Bucs a 4-0 lead after one inning of play.
Fernandez cruised through the 2nd and 3rd, holding the lead for the Bucs, but ran into trouble in the 4th when Indian River touched him for three runs to cut the FSW lead to just one at 4-3.
The Bucs bullpen kept it right there as Riley Skeen and Robert Wegielnik spun four straight scoreless frames while a triple from Matthew Corpas and a bloop single from Abimelec Ortiz padded the lead to 5-3 for FSW in the 7th.
That is all the Bucs pen needed as Antonio Knowles came in in the 9th and slammed the door for his second save of the season, wrapping up a 5-3 win, the sixth straight for FSW.
FSW outhit Indian River 11-8 in the win and the Bucs played errorless baseball while the Pioneers committed two costly errors. Corpas and Warnner Rincones each had two hits for the Bucs, Corpas also scored a pair of runs. Skeen earned his third win of the season out of the bullpen, going two scoreless frames while striking out four.
The Bucs win their sixth straight to improve to 8-1 on the year while Indian River loses their first of the early season as they drop to 3-1-1.
FSW will be back in action this weekend in the Panhandle when they travel to Marianna to play a four game set against #3 Chipola.
