FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #15 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers led comfortably for most of Wednesday afternoon's game against #16 State College of Florida, taking an early 4-1 lead and extending it to 8-2 midway through the game.  But that comfort went out the window in a wild 9th inning as the Manatees pushed four runs across and had the tying run just 90 feet away until Antonio Knowles came up with the biggest strikeout of the year for the Bucs to finish off an 8-7 win to even up the two frontrunners Suncoast Conference series at a game apiece.  

 

State College of Florida jumped on the Bucs right away in the top of the 1st, getting a triple off the wall on the first pitch of the game and a single up the middle two batters later to take a 1-0 lead before the infield dirt had even dried.  

 

The Bucs answered back in a big way in the bottom half of the frame with back to back RBI doubles from Christian Lucio and Jared Campbell to give FSW a 3-1 lead and another run scoring two bagger later in the inning from Luis Tuero to push their lead to 4-1 after one inning of play.  

 

A leadoff double for the Manatees in the 2nd led to another SCF run to cut the Bucs lead to 4-2 at the end of two.  

 

FSW got the run back in the 3rd when Yadiel Santana singled down the left field line and stole second in front of an RBI double from Abimelec Ortiz to push the lead back to three at 5-2.  

 

After a scoreless 4th, the Bucs were swinging it once again in the 5th as Campbell picked up his third RBI of the day with a single through a drawn in infield and Ortiz lifted a sac fly to center to stretch the FSW lead to 7-2. 

 

Riley Skeen came out of the FSW bullpen to hold the lead right there in the 6th and the Bucs added a run on a leadoff home run from Kendry Noriega in the bottom of the frame to make it an 8-2 game.  

 

The Manatees got a run back in the 8th to make it an 8-3 game, but the Bucs looked like they were in business as they went to the final inning of play with a five run lead.  

 

That's when things got interesting.  A leadoff walk and back to back singles for State College of Florida loaded the bases for the Manatees with nobody out in the 9th.  A walk forced home a run and brought the tying run to the plate with the score 8-4.  The Bucs traded an out for a run on the next play before a single through the right side plated SCF's third run of the inning to make it 8-6. The Bucs looked like they had the game sewn up as closer Antonio Knowles picked up a strikeout and then got a weakly hit ground ball to third for what looked like the final out of the game, but a miscue allowed a run to score and put the tying run just 90 feet away at third.  Knowles decided to do it himself from there, punching out the final hitter of the game as the FSW faithful let out a collective exhale as the Bucs closed it out 8-7.  

 

Campbell led the Bucs offense with a pair of hits and three RBIs in the win while Rincones was 2-4 with two stolen bases and a pair of runs scored at the top of the lineup.  Carlos Rodriguez earned the win for FSW on the mound, going 5 1/3 and allowing five hits and one earned run while striking out six to improve to 7-1 on the year.  Knowles earned his NJCAA leading 8th save of the year, throwing the 9th and striking out two. 

 

The Bucs improve to 27-10 overall and take the lead back over in the Suncoast Conference standings at 11-3 while State College of Florida falls to 25-11 and drops a game behind FSW at 10-4 in league play. 

 

The Bucs and Manatees will play the rubber game of the three game set on Friday night in Bradenton to wrap up the first half of Suncoast Conference play.