FORT MYERS, Fla.- Saturday, the #20 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers jumped out to a 2-0 lead after two innings against the Hillsborough Hawks in the opening game of a three game Suncoast Conference set before the skies opened and forced the suspension of the contest.  Tuesday the Bucs got a chance to finish it off, scoring four times in the 5th inning to cushion their lead before closing out the Hawks 7-2 to clinch their second straight series win to open conference play.  

 

Way back on Saturday, the Bucs jumped out to an early 2-0 lead when Christian Lucio crushed his fourth home run of the season with two outs in the bottom of the 1st.  

 

It stayed that way through the 2nd and they began the 3rd with two quick outs before a walk and a hit batter reached base ahead of a downpour that forced the suspension of the contest.  

 

When play resumed Tuesday, the Bucs quickly picked up an out to get out of the continued inning and added to their lead on an RBI single from Ronny Medina in the 4th to make it 3-0.  

 

Hillsborough cracked the scoreboard for the first time in the top half of the 5th, but the Bucs answered right back in the bottom half of the frame.  

 

A one out RBI single from Matthew Corpas pushed it back to a three run lead for the Bucs and later in the inning a triple to the wall from Kendry Noriega scored two more to make it a 6-1 game.  Simon Bauemer then drove Noriega home with a sacrifice fly to open it up to a 7-1 lead for FSW after five complete.  

 

A wild pitch allowed the Hawks to get a run before stretch time, but that is all they would get as Robert Wegielnik came in out of the FSW bullpen and slammed the door from there, retiring all eight batters he faced to lock down a 7-2 win for the Bucs to clinch the series. 

 

FSW outhit Hillsborough 10-4 in the game, getting two hits each from Abimelec Ortiz, Corpas, and Lucio, who had the early homer and drove in two.  Alex Ayala earned his third straight victory, going five innings over four days, allowing just two hits and one run while striking out five. Wegielnik went 2 2/3 perfect innings to close things out for the Bucs.  

 

#20 FSW earns its 20th win of the 2021 season in the victory, improving to 20-8 overall and 4-1 in Suncoast Conference play where they move into an early first place tie in the conference standings.  Hillsborough falls to 7-12 overall and 1-4 in conference play with the loss.  

 

The Bucs will look to finish off the sweep tomorrow at City of Palms Park when they host Hillsborough for game three of the series in a 2 PM first pitch from Downtown Fort Myers.