BRADENTON, Fla.- The #9 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers wrapped up the best regular season by a Suncoast Conference team in at least 15 years on Wednesday, blasting the State College of Florida Manatees 14-5 to finish the regular season 40-14 overall and a sparkling 24-4 in conference play.  

 

It was all Bucs, all night Wednesday as FSW jumped all over the Manatees right off the bat, plating three runs in the top half of the 1^st inning on RBI singles from Paxton Tomaini and Matthew Corpas to give the Bucs a 3-0 lead. 

 

The Bucs added to their advantage in the 2^nd as Satchell Norman cranked a three run home run out to left to double the lead to 6-0 and later in the frame Braden Forchic doubled home a pair to make it 8-0 before scoring on an SCF error to open it up to a 9-0 game. 

 

SCF got back in the game in the bottom of the inning with a four spot to make it 9-4, but FSW scored three more in the 4^th on a two run single from Ronny Medina and another on a Manatee miscue to cushion the lead back to 12-4 at the end of four. 

 

The teams traded runs in the 5^th and neither scored in the 6th, sending the game onto the 7^th with FSW in front 13-5. 

 

A bases loaded single from Hernando Alvarez in the 7^th extended the lead to 14-5 in favor of FSW at stretch time and Riley Skeen and Grant Besser came in out of the Bucs bullpen and made sure it stayed that way, putting up three straight zeros to close out a dominating 14-5 win to wrap up the regular season for the Bucs. 

 

The Bucs tied a season high with 19 hits in the win as all nine starters and 11 players total had knocks for FSW.  Corpas was a perfect 3-3 with a double and two RBIs while Forchic was 3-4 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs and Hunter Fitz-Gerald was 3-6 with three runs scored.  

 

Reigning NJCAA National Pitcher of the Week Brian Holiday earned the win out of the FSW bullpen, going three innings and allowing just one hit and one run to improve to 7-1 on the year. Skeen and Besser combined for four shutout frames to finish things off, striking out seven and allowing just two hits.  

 

While inconsequential in the standings, the victory is historic for FSW as the Bucs finish Suncoast Conference play 24-4, marking the best record by any Suncoast Conference team in the digital era (historical standings only available to 2007).  

 

The Bucs close the regular season 40-14 while SCF sees their season come to a close at 31-23 and 15-13 in league play. 

 

FSW will now have a nine day break before seeing action again on May 6^th & 7^th when they host the Fort Myers Regional in the NJCAA Region VIII Tournament where they will welcome the runners-up from the Southern Conference to City of Palms Park for a best two out of three series Friday and Saturday with a trip to the tournament's Final Four on the line.