Greer & Bullpen Pitch Bucs Past Patriots
After being rained out Thursday with just one out in the bottom of the 1st , Cole Greer and two other relievers shouldered the load one day later, firing 9 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball as the #8 Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers topped the #20 Central Florida Patriots 2-1 in extra innings in the opener of a huge three game Citrus Conference series Friday.
OCALA, Fla.- After being rained out Thursday with just one out in the bottom of the 1st , Cole Greer and two other relievers shouldered the load one day later, firing 9 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball as the #8 Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers topped the #20 Central Florida Patriots 2-1 in extra innings in the opener of a huge three game Citrus Conference series Friday.
For the second straight week, the Bucs got the series started on the road Thursday before seeing the contest halted due to rain and finished up on Friday. This time the Bucs and Patriots had just gotten started, failing to even finish the 1st inning before rain stopped things.
When they resumed on Friday Central Florida manufactured a run right away, using a walk, a pair of stolen bases, and a passed ball to scratch a run across in the bottom of the 1st and take a 1-0 lead.
The Bucs had a chance to answer right away, putting runners on the corners in the top of the 2nd and then two more on in the 3rd, but couldn't get a run across to tie things up as Central Florida continued to lead it 1-0.
Reliever Cole Greer kept the Bucs in the game, blanking the Patriots through the middle innings but FSW couldn't get anything going on the offensive end as it remained a 1-0 game in favor of Central Florida into the 7th.
The Bucs put a runner on in the 7th but had him erased on a double play ball and Greer worked around a one out single of his own in the bottom of the inning as it stayed a 1-0 game after seven.
FSW finally broke through in the 8th, getting a little bit of help from the Patriots defense as Aiden Talarico legged out an infield single and in an attempt to nab him, a wild throw allowed Bishop Quarles to motor around from second and score to tie the game at 1.
Judd Hildreth came in out of the Bucs bullpen and fired a 1-2-3 top of the 8th and did it again in the 9th to send the game to extras deadlocked at 1.
Quarles was hit in the head to start the 10th inning for the Bucs and after a pair of walks loaded the bases around a strikeout, Robbie Demetree lined a single back up the middle to drive Quarles home and put FSW in front for the first time 2-1.
With the lead and a chance to finish the Bucs handed the ball over to closer Nicholas Lorenz who was lights out, setting down the Patriots in order in the 10th including a pair of strikeouts to nail down his NJCAA leading ninth save of the year in a 2-1 FSW win.
Despite not factoring into the decision, Greer was the deciding factor in the ballgame. The sophomore fired 6 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, allowing just three hits while striking out three to save the Bucs after the rain delay. The Bucs bullpen was equally as good as Hildreth earned his sixth win of the season, throwing two perfect frames while Lorenz locked down the save with a perfect 10th. The save for Lorenz is the 13th of his career, tying him with Antonio Knowles for the program record.
Quarles finished with three hits in the win and scored both runs for the Bucs. Demetree went 2-5 with the game winning RBI in the 10th.
The Bucs pick up their 30th win of the season, improving to 30-10 overall while tying the Patriots atop the Citrus Conference standings at 18-7. Central Florida drops to 27-16.
The Bucs and Patriots will be back at it on Saturday in Fort Myers with first place in the league standings on the line with a doubleheader set for 1 PM at Buccaneers Park.