AVON PARK, Fla.- Things couldn't have turned from 1 to 100 quicker Monday night than they did for the #17 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers as they took on the South Florida State Panthers in the final game of a three game Suncoast Conference series between the two. After dominating the first 5 1/2 innings of play and building up a 9-0 lead, the Bucs watched as South Florida State scored 11 in the bottom of the 6th to take an 11-9 lead. FSW answered right back with three in the 7th to retake the lead and with victory in their grasp in the 9th, the Panthers scored to send the game to extra innings. In the extra frame, the Bucs scored two and Marc Davis came out of the bullpen to blow away the Panthers to finally seal a 14-12 win to give the Bucs the three game conference sweep against South Florida State.  

 

After dominating the first two games of the series, the Bucs looked to do the same in the series finale Monday. They got off to a good start, scoring a 1st inning run on a sacrifice fly from Carter Cunningham to take an early 1-0 lead and then scored six in the top of the 2nd, highlighted by a three run home run from Christian Lucio to go in front by a touchdown at 7-0.  

 

Simon Bauemer doubled with one out in the FSW 4th and later scored to make it 8-0 and the Bucs extended their lead to 9-0 when Lucio doubled to the wall in center with a man on in the 5th.  

 

It looked like it was going to be another snoozer for the Bucs until the bottom of the 6th. That's when things got interesting, to put it nicely, for the Bucs. South Florida State got on the board with three straight singles to make it 9-1 before another single and an RBI groundout made it 9-3 with two outs and one on in the inning.  An FSW error on the infield allowed the inning to continue and it would come back to bite them in a big way. After the error, the Bucs walked two straight batters to load the bases and a two run single up the middle made it 9-5.  A bases loaded free pass made it a 9-6 game and an infield single somehow scored two more to make it a one run game at 9-8.  The Bucs went to the bullpen for the second time in the inning, but it didn't provide much relief as another walk reloaded the bases and a wild pitch allowed the tying run to come home to make it 9-9.  Still not done, a dropped third strike, which for the second time in the inning, should have been the end of the Panther rally, allowed the inning to continue and a two run single to right gave South Florida State 11 runs in the inning and an 11-9 lead in the game before the dust settled.  

 

After being stranded in the field for a 16 batter inning for South Florida State, the Bucs were ready to hit when they came back into the dugout, getting an RBI single to left from Warnner Rincones to draw them back to within one and a blooper over the drawn in infield to tie the score at 11.  Later in the inning Cunningham lifted his second sac fly of the ballgame and just like that the Bucs were back in front 12-11.  

 

It remained a 12-11 game to the 9th when things got interesting once again.  A dropped fly ball by the Bucs in the outfield allowed the Panthers to get a rally going to tie the game at 12 and send it to extras. 

 

In the extra frame, Ronny Medina came up big for the Bucs, dropping in a two run single to center to break the tie and put FSW back in front 14-12. 

 

That's when Bucs Head Coach Ben Bizier went to his veteran, calling on Marc Davis out of the bullpen, and he answered the bell, carving up the Panther lineup 1-2-3 by striking out the side on just 12 pitches to lock down his first save of the year and give the Bucs the sweep with a 14-12 victory. 

 

The Bucs banged out a season high 17 hits in the victory as four different players had multi-hit contests.  Lucio led the way, missing the cycle by just a triple as he went 4-5 with a double, a home run, and four RBIs for FSW while Abimelec Ortiz had three hits and scored twice and Medina and Rincones each had two hits and two runs driven home. Antonio Knowles earned the win on the mound, going 1 2/3 innings, allowing one hit and one unearned run.  Davis secured the save with his 1-2-3 10th.  

 

FSW improves to 24-8 on the year with the victory and maintains its lead atop the Suncoast Conference standings with an 8-1 mark through three series.  South Florida State falls to 11-19 and 1-8 in league play with the loss. 

 

The Bucs will be back at it at home on Wednesday when they host St. Petersburg at City of Palms Park in a 3:00 PM first pitch from Downtown Fort Myers.