April 17, 2025
Bucs Explode Late to Sink Sharks
The #10 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers won their sixth straight Citrus Conference series opener Thursday afternoon at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers, scoring eight runs in the final two innings to run rule the Miami Dade Sharks 9-1 and improve to 35-11 on the year.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #10 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers won their sixth straight Citrus Conference series opener Thursday afternoon at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers, scoring eight runs in the final two innings to run rule the Miami Dade Sharks 9-1 and improve to 35-11 on the year.
Offense was at a premium early on as Miami Dade managed just one hit through the first two innings while FSW went six up, six down in the first two frames.
FSW cracked the scoreboard first as Luke Orfi singled to lead off the 3rd and moved to second on a wild pitch before swiping third to put him there with nobody out in the inning. After a walk put runners on the corners, a sacrifice fly from Devin Parks brought Orfi home from third to give the Bucs a 1-0 lead at the end of three.
For the second time in the game, Bucs starter Robert Mitchell pitched around a one out double in the top of the 4th to keep it a 1-0 game and it remained that way after a scoreless 5th for both sides.
Miami Dade finally got on the board in the 6th as a leadoff walk turned into a run for the Sharks later in the frame to knot things up at 1.
After two quick outs for the Bucs to start the bottom of the 6th, they mounted a rally with Jake Mueller and Nik Pereira coming through with clutch back to back RBI knocks to put the Bucs back in front 4-1. Pereira swiped third after his double and Carlos Sanchez walked and stole second to keep the carousel moving before Nathan Fink stung a single back up the middle to drive them both home and extend the lead to 6-1.
It was DeJa'Vu for the Bucs in the 7th as they opened their half of the frame with back to back strikeouts before once again getting things going. Anthony Ruocco legged out an infield single and Brock Knoerr and Mueller walked to load the bases before Pereira split the gap with a double to the wall clearing the bases and giving the Bucs a defacto walk off win as the run rule kicked in with FSW winning it 9-1.
The Bucs scored eight of their nine runs in the game with two outs, finishing with seven hits and taking advantage of six Miami Dade free passes in the win. Pereira led the offense, going 2-4 with a pair of doubles and four RBIs while Ruocco was 2-4 with two runs scored at the top of the lineup.
Mitchell won his fourth straight start, going a career high six innings and scattering five hits and allowing just one run while striking out five to improve to 4-2 on the year.
FSW moves to 35-11 overall and 20-8 in Citrus Conference play where they remain just one game back of Indian River for the league lead while their magic number to host a Regional shrinks to just two. Miami Dade falls to 25-20 overall, but more importantly falls out of a playoff spot at 14-14 in conference play with five games left to go.
The series now shifts to Miami where the Bucs and Sharks will play arguably the biggest doubleheader of the year for both sides on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 PM.
