OCALA, Fla.- The #7 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers won their eighth straight game Thursday afternoon on the road in Ocala, using four RBI days from Nik Pereira and Ty Hamilton to blow past the #18 Central Florida Patriots 11-5 to begin a key three game Citrus Conference series between the two. 

 

The red hot Bucs wasted little time jumping on the Patriots on Thursday as their first two hitters of the game reached via walks and scored on an infield single and a Central Florida error to give FSW a 2-0 lead. Later in the inning Carlos Sanchez drove home a run with a single to left to extend the Bucs lead to 3-0 after a half inning of play. 

 

The Bucs were right back at it in the 3rd, once again putting their first two hitters on to begin the inning before Nik Pereira launched a three run homer deep to left to double the lead to 6-0. Three batters later it was more of the same as there were two runners aboard when Ty Hamilton dropped the head of the bat on an 0-1 breaking ball and drilled it out to right for a three run home run to balloon the FSW lead to 9-0. A Jake Mueller RBI single later in the inning capped a seven run frame for the Bucs to give them a 10-0 lead on the Patriots after 2 1/2. 

 

Central Florida got a solo home run in the bottom of the 3^rd to get on the board for the first time but the Bucs matched the run with one of their own in the 4^th on a two out RBI triple from Hamilton to make it 11-1. 

 

The Bucs had a chance to close out the Patriots via run rule in the 5^th but Central Florida fought back, getting two runs to extend the game to the 6^th with the score 11-3 in favor of FSW. 

 

Two innings later with the eight run rule now in play in the 7th, again the Patriots were able to scratch out a run and extend the contest. 

 

The Bucs didn't score again, but it didn't matter as the Patriots managed only a lone 9^th inning tally as FSW finished things off 11-5 for their eighth straight win. 

 

The Bucs put up double figure runs for the fourth straight game, banging out 15 hits in the win. Pereira and Hamilton stole the show offensively, both homering and driving in four with Pereira going 3-4 and Hamilton going 2-4. Robert Mitchell was the beneficiary of the offense on the mound for the Bucs, earning the win with five solid innings of work, allowing six hits and three runs to improve to 3-2 on the year. Josiah Velazquez dialed up his fourth save of the year, logging four innings and allowing six hits and two runs out of the Bucs bullpen. 

 

FSW wins their eighth straight to improve to 33-9 overall while capturing their seventh straight Citrus Conference game to bump their record to 18-7 in league play. Central Florida drops to 30-12 overall and falls three games behind FSW in the league standings at 15-10. 

 

The series shifts to Fort Myers on Saturday with doubleheader action beginning at 1 PM at Buccaneers Park.