Posted: Mar 25, 2023
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers clinched their third consecutive Southern Conference series win Saturday afternoon at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers as Colin Brodeur and Lucas Hartman combined for six shutout innings out of the FSW bullpen to secure a come from behind 7-4 victory over the Eastern Florida State Titans to put the Bucs in first place in the conference standings at the midway point of the season.
Both the Bucs and Titans had chances early on in the rubber game between the two new Southern Conference rivals, but neither team was able to push anything across through two innings of play as the game quickly went to the 3rd scoreless at Buccaneers Park.
Eastern broke through in the 3rd as an FSW error to begin the inning compounded when the Titans cracked a two run home run out to left center two batters later to take a 2-0 lead. After another FSW error on the infield, a triple plated the second unearned run of the inning and a sacrifice fly made it 4-0 Titans at the end of 2 1/2.
The Bucs answered right back in the bottom half of the inning as AJ Shaver smacked a line drive double to the gap to score Eddie-Boe Rodriguez from second and after back to back walks loaded the bases, Joel Gardner singled to right field to bring two more home and make it 4-3.
Colin Brodeur came in out of the FSW bullpen in the 4th and gave them a big shutdown inning after the offensive three spot and the Bucs tied things up at 4 in the bottom half of the frame on a passed ball to make it a new ballgame at the end of four complete.
Brodeur mowed through the Titans order in the 5th and 6th , retiring Eastern in order in both innings to give the Bucs a chance to take their first lead of the game which they did on a bases loaded hit by pitch of slugger Derek Williams to put FSW on top 5-4.
Eastern picked up their first baserunner in 14 tries against Brodeur in the 8th, but fellow reliever Lucas Hartman came in to help extinguish the flames and a rocket of a throw from Shaver in right field did just that to end the inning as he gunned down the potential tying run at the dish to keep it a 5-4 lead for FSW after 7 1/2.
Williams drilled a ball to center with one out in the 8th and unfortunately for Eastern Florida, the Titans centerfielder had a collision with the wall trying to make the play on Williams and wasn't able to continue the play, so the Bucs first baseman motored around the bases with ease for his 12th home run of the season to make it 6-4 contest. Later in the inning Aries Samek came up big with a line drive to right to bring home another run and cushion the lead to 7-4 as the teams went to the 9th.
Hartman did the rest, working a clean 1-2-3 top of the 9th to finish off the Titans 7-4 and give the Bucs their third straight conference series win to begin the 2023 campaign.
Brodeur and Hartman were outstanding out of the FSW bullpen, going six combined shutout innings and allowing just three hits while striking out four for the win. Brodeur earned the victory, improving to 4-0 on the year while Hartman notched his fifth save of the season while running his scoreless innings streak to 23 2/3.
Shaver had two hits including a double in the win while Williams and Gardner drove in two apiece.
FSW comes back to win the series and improve to 23-12 overall on the season while holding down the top spot in the Southern Conference standings at 6-3. Eastern Florida now has an uphill climb in the second half as they drop to 17-17 overall and 3-6 in conference action.
FSW will jump out of conference real quick on Monday as they host TNXL at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers before returning to league play Wednesday on the road at Indian River.