Posted: Mar 13, 2021
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #20 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers remained red hot Saturday afternoon at City of Palms Park in Downtown Fort Myers as Alex Ayala and Brendan Koester combined for a two hit shutout as the Bucs breezed past South Florida State 7-0 to clinch their third consecutive series win to begin their Suncoast Conference schedule.
Like Friday's game, it was a pitcher's duel through the first three innings with FSW's Alex Ayala and South Florida State's Quentin Lindsey matching zeros in a scoreless game to the 4th.
The Bucs cracked the scoreboard first in the 4th as Simon Bauemer lifted a pinch hit sacrifice fly to left and Ronny Medina singled to short right center to bring two more to give FSW a 4-0 lead after four.
Ayala was sharp again in the 5th, striking out two more to keep the Bucs in front 3-0.
FSW padded their cushion in the 5th when Jared Campbell drove home Warnner Rincones with a groundout to make it 4-0.
Head Coach Ben Bizier went to his bench in the 7th and pushed the right button once again as Yadiel Santana stroked a single up the middle to drive home a run to make it 5-0.
Bucs reliever Brendan Koester worked a 1-2-3 8th to keep the shutout intact and in the bottom half of the frame Abimelec Ortiz crushed a two run home run deep out to right to push their lead to 7-0.
After hitting the first batter of the 9th, Koester retired the next three in order, closing out the Panthers and giving the Bucs a 7-0 win to clinch the series.
Ayala and Koester dominated the South Florida lineup, allowing just two hits in the game while striking out 10. Ayala earned the win to improve to 4-2, going 5 2/3 innings, allowing just a single hit and striking out a career high nine. Koester worked hard to earn his first career save, going 3 1/3 innings and allowing a lone hit. The Bucs offense finished with eight hits with Ortiz leading the way with a 2-4, two RBI game for FSW.
FSW stretches their win streak to five to improve to 23-8 overall and 7-1 in Suncoast Conference play while South Florida State falls to 11-18 and 1-7 in league action.
The Bucs and Panthers will wrap the series up on Monday in Avon Park with first pitch scheduled for 6:00 PM.
