FORT MYERS, Fla.- Sydney McCray drove in four in game one and Feline Poot clubbed a pair of home runs and drove in four in game two as the #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers slugged their way past the Eastern Florida State Titans 11-3 and 5-1 Saturday afternoon at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers.  

 

The Bucs wasted little time in jumping on the Titans in game one as their first two hitters of the game reached base before Sydney McCray drilled a ground rule double over the ball in left to bring home both runners and put FSW in front 2-0 right away. Later in the inning Laura Vigna smacked a single to right to bring home McCray, upping the Bucs lead to 3-0 at the end of one. 

 

FSW added to their lead in the 2^nd as Belle Sardja worked a scoreless top half of the inning with a pair of strikeouts while her battery mate Sietske Drijvers cracked a solo shot to lead off the bottom half of the frame to put the Bucs up 4-0. 

 

The Bucs blew the game open in the 3^rd as Drijvers doubled off the right field wall to drive a run in and Maddy Golka singled behind her to bring home two more to make it 7-0. They weren't done yet though as McCray came up with the bases loaded later in the inning and rifled one up the middle to score two more and an Eastern throwing error cleared the bases to stretch the Bucs lead to 10-0.  

 

Sardja remained locked in in the 4^th with another 1-2-3 frame with a pair of strikeouts and the Bucs tacked on an insurance run in the bottom half after a pinch hit, leadoff triple from Jaden Goodwin and a sacrifice fly from Ella Moore to drive her in to make it 11-0 FSW.  

 

Down to their last out, Eastern Florida avoided the shutout with three straight singles, plating three runs, but it wasn't enough as the Bucs finished it off 11-3 to kick in the run rule in five. 

 

McCray and Drijvers paced the offense as McCray finished 2-3 with a double and four RBIs while Drijvers was a perfect 2-2 with a double, a home run, and two RBIs.  The Bucs also ran wild in the win as Shenita Tucker stole three bags, Carys Platt two more, and D'Yani McKinley one to give FSW six in the contest.  Sardja went the distance in the circle, allowing eight hits and three runs while striking out seven to improve to 18-1 on the year.  

 

 

The Titans took advantage of a two out FSW error in the top of the 1^st in game two to take their first lead of the day at 1-0, but it didn't last long as McCray tripled with two outs in the bottom of the 1^st and trotted in on Feline Poot's 10^th home run of the season to quickly put the Bucs up 2-1. 

 

The Bucs added to their lead in the 3^rd as back to back walks to Platt and McCray got FSW started and Poot and Vigna drove them in to push the Bucs lead to 4-1 at the end of three.  

 

FSW reliever Esmee Ames came in and blanked the Titans in the 4^th and 5th, striking out four along the way while Poot became the first player in Buccaneers Park history to hit a ball off the foul pole, a solo shot in the bottom of the 5^th to cushion the lead to 5-1. 

 

The Bucs didn't score again, but they didn't need to as Lea Chevrier came in and closed the door in the 6^th and 7th, finishing off a 5-1 win for FSW to sweep the doubleheader.  

 

There was just nine hits between the two teams in the contest, five for FSW and four for Eastern Florida. Poot was the offensive star, going 2-2 with a pair of home runs and four RBIs in the win. Kylee Graham started and went three innings, allowing just two hits and one unearned run in the victory while Ames picked up her first career win out of the bullpen with two scoreless frames and four strikeouts before Chevrier came in to close things out with two scoreless and three punchouts.  

 

 

FSW runs their win streak to 32 games, just one away from tying the longest in program history, while improving to 43-3 overall and a perfect 11-0 in Southern Conference play.  Eastern Florida falls to 17-32 overall and 1-10 in league play. 

 

The Bucs will be back in action in a pair of makeup games on Monday in Miami when they take on the Miami Dade Sharks with a chance to not only clinch their seventh straight conference championship, but also to set a new program record win streak if they are able to sweep.