FORT MYERS, Fla.- The best was saved for the last at the Marissa Gusto Memorial Tournament at City of Palms Park in Downtown Fort Myers as the 3-0 and 15^th ranked Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers squared off against the 2-0 and 8^th ranked Miami Dade Sharks Sunday afternoon. The Bucs jumped in front early, scoring in four of the first five innings to get out to a 6-1 lead, but had to hang on late for an 8-7 win to finish the weekend undefeated.  

 

Miami Dade picked up a hit on the first pitch of the game and plated a 1^st inning run on an FSW error to jump in front 1-0 early on.  

 

The Bucs answered in the 2^nd as Simon Baumer and Jose Izarra ripped back to back doubles to even the score followed by a sacrifice fly from Ronny Medina to drive home Izarra and give FSW their first lead of the game at 2-1. 

 

Bucs starter Chase Chatman punched out a pair in a 1-2-3 top of the 3^rd and his offense again rewarded him with three more runs as Paul Winland singled up the middle to drive home one and Baumer crushed the first pitch he saw over the wall in right center for a two run shot to stretch the Bucs lead to 5-1.  

 

A two out double from Kendry Noriega and an RBI single from Paxton Tomaini cushioned the Bucs advantage to 6-1 after four.  

 

The defending Region VIII Champs showed some fight in the 5^th as they battered the Bucs bullpen for three runs on four hits to swing their way right back into the game at 6-4. 

 

With the oil leaking, the Bucs offense again answered the bell to plug the leak in the bottom half of the frame as Izarra legged out a two out RBI single and scored later in the inning when Miami Dade couldn't handle a throw back from the catcher to the pitcher to make it 8-4 FSW.  

 

Back to back FSW errors cost the Bucs a pair of runs in the top of the 6th, allowing the Sharks right back into things at 8-6. 

 

Things quieted down from there as neither team pushed anything across in the 7^th or 8^th and the game sailed to the 9^th with the score still 8-6 in favor of the Bucs.  

 

Miami Dade made things interesting in the 9^th as they got a one out triple and a sac fly to get to within one, but FSW reliever Ben Petschke shut it down from there, getting his sixth strikeout of the game to end the threat and the game to seal an 8-7 win for the Bucs.  

 

Chatman earned his first collegiate win, going 4 1/3 innings and allowing just two hits and one unearned run while striking out eight for the Bucs while Petschke nailed down his first save with 3 1/3 innings of nearly flawless relief, striking out six of his own.  Baumer led the Bucs offense with two hits, two runs score, and two RBIs on his 3^rd inning homer.  Izarra went 2-4 with a pair of RBIs of his own.  

 

FSW takes round one of at least five between the Bucs and Sharks this season to improve to 4-0 on the early campaign while Miami Dade drops their first of the year to fall to 2-1.  

 

The two teams will go at it once again on Wednesday when the Bucs head across Alligator Alley to take on Dade in a 2 PM first pitch in Miami.