PALATKA, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers were three outs away from victory against the East Georgia Bobcats Friday afternoon at the Capital City Bank Classic in Palatka, but unfortunately for the Bucs, before they were able to secure the three outs, the Bobcats scored three runs to come from behind for a 5-3 win.  

 

FSW had a pair of golden opportunities to jump in front early on as they loaded the bases in the 1^st and put two on in the 2^nd, but all five runners were stranded at inning's end to keep it a scoreless game to the 3^rd between the Bucs and Bobcats.  

 

East Georgia took advantage of their first chance, loading the bases with two outs in the top of the 3^rd before a two run single through the left side put the Bobcats in front 2-0.  

 

The Bucs quickly answered as Joel Gardner singled the other way to start the FSW half of the 3^rd and on the first pitch he saw, Derek Williams crushed his fourth home run in five at bats deep and out to left to level the score at 2 a piece.  

 

FSW starter Kelan Hoover used some help from his catcher Anthony Westbrook, who gunned down a runner trying to steal, for an unconventional 1-2-3 top of the 4^th and an inning later Westbrook was the offensive hero as he smacked his first home run of the year out to right to put the Bucs in front for the first time in the game 3-2. 

 

The Bucs loaded up the bases again in the 6^th as they looked for some insurance, but a deep fly out to center end the threat and would cost them in the next inning. 

 

East Georgia began their final at bats with three straight hits to load the bases with nobody out in the 7^th before a passed ball allowed the tying run to score to make it 3-3. After a walk reloaded the bases, a single to left put the Bobcats on top 4-3 before another passed ball allowed the third East Georgia run of the inning to score and put the Bobcats up 5-3. 

 

Westbrook walked to begin the FSW 7^th and put bring the tying run to the plate, but a strikeout, a line out, and a fly out ended the threat as the Bobcats hung on to win it 5-3. 

 

East Georgia outhit FSW 10-5 in the contest with Williams and Westbrook accounting for all of the Bucs offensive production with their two home runs.  Zach Locke was collared with the loss, allowing three runs, all earned, in two innings of work out of the FSW bullpen.  

 

FSW falls to 4-5 on the year with the loss while East Georgia improves to 2-1. 

 

14 is the magic number for the Bucs on Saturday as first they take on DII #14 St. Johns River at 1 PM before taking on D1 #14 Florence-Darlington at 4 PM in a rematch of last week's 4-2 Stingers win in Panama City.