MELBOURNE, Fla.- In a day full of twists and turns, the #3 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers were forced to settle for a split Saturday afternoon against the Eastern Florida State Titans as FSW scored five runs late in game one to sneak out a 5-4 win before Eastern ripped a walk off three run home run in extra innings in game two for a 7-6 win to split the doubleheader. 

 

FSW put a runner on in each of the first three innings in game one but couldn't push anything across. Thankfully for the Bucs, starter Lea Chevrier silenced the Titan bats through the first three to keep it a scoreless game as the teams went to the 4th. 

 

The Bucs stranded another runner in the 4^th and finally Eastern made them pay as they cashed in a bases loaded, two out situation with a three run triple to center to break the scoreless tie and take a 3-0 lead after four complete. 

 

The runs woke the Bucs offense up as well as Sydney McCray and Skylar Brennan drove in runs to cut the Titan lead to 3-2 before Emily Allegood smacked a single through the left side with two outs in the 5^th to tie the score at 3. The Titans went to the bullpen, but it provided little relief as Virginia Mambelli launched the third pitch she saw out to dead center for a two run home run to put the Bucs ahead for the first time at 5-3. 

 

Eastern took advantage of an FSW error to cut it to a one run game at 5-4 in the 6^th . 

 

The Bucs couldn't get any insurance in the top of the 7^th and the Titans put the game tying and the game winning runs on base, but FSW reliever Esmee Ames got a pop out to finish things off, giving the Bucs a 5-4 win in game one of the twinbill. 

 

FSW outhit Eastern 8-4 in the game with Mambelli leading the way, going 2-3 with a home run and two RBIs.  Chevrier earned the win in the circle, going five innings and allowing four hits and four runs to improve to 15-0 on the year while Ames earned her third save of the campaign with two scoreless innings of work. 

 

 

The Bucs continued to leave ducks on the pond as game two got underway as they stranded a runner in the 1^st and left the bases loaded in the 2^nd while Eastern came through with another big two out hit to score the game's first run to take an early 1-0 lead in the 2^nd . 

 

The Bucs got a leadoff single from Allegood in the 4^th and put another runner on with a one out walk, but again they couldn't cash them in and it remained 1-0 Eastern after four. 

 

The Bucs manufactured a run to tie the score in the 5^th as McCray was hit by a pitch to start the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Brennan came through with a single through the hole on the right side to bring the speedy McCray home to knot the score at 1. Later in the inning Maddy Golka lined a two out single to left to bring Brennan home, giving the Bucs their first lead of the game at 2-1. 

 

The lead didn't last long for the Bucs though as with two outs and nobody on for Eastern in the bottom of the 5^th a hit batter extended the inning and two batters later a three run home run put the Titans back in front 4-2. 

 

The back and forth continued in the 6^th as McCray legged out an RBI single bunt to make it a one run game and later in the inning Brennan lifted a sac fly to right to tie the score at 4. 

 

Bucs reliever Esmee Ames mowed down all six hitters she faced in the 6^th and 7^th , but the Bucs offense couldn't get anything going as the game went to extras deadlocked at 4. 

 

The top of the FSW lineup got things going in the 8^th as McCray and Sietske Drijvers both reached before a sac bunt moved them into scoring position.  That's when the Bucs hottest hitter, Virginia Mambelli came to the plate and drilled the first ball she saw through the left side to score them both and put the Bucs back in front 6-4. 

 

Just when it looked like all the momentum was on the side of the Bucs, the Titans picked up back to back hits on just three pitches to start their half of the 8^th inning to put the tying runs on base with nobody out. Unfortunately for the Bucs, the train didn't stop there as after a seven pitch battle, the Titans got a three run home run to dead center field, walking off the Bucs 7-6 to split the doubleheader. 

 

Nine different Bucs had hits in the loss as FSW outhit Eastern 13-7 overall. Mambelli finished 2-5 with a pair of RBIs while Drijvers and McCray combined for four hits and three runs scored at the top of the order. Ames suffered the loss out of the bullpen, falling to 10-4 on the year while allowing four hits and four runs in 2 1/3 innings pitched to close things out. 

 

 

The split moves the Bucs to 30-4 overall on the year while they drop out of first place in the Citrus Conference standings at 17-3.  Eastern Florida moves to 25-11 overall and 10-10 in conference action with the split. 

 

The Bucs will return home on Tuesday when they host Miami Dade in doubleheader action beginning at 2 PM at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers.