FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #2 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers' bats were stymied by Hillsborough pitching Thursday afternoon at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers as FSW managed just two hits in a 5-1 loss to the Hawks to begin their three game Citrus Conference series. 

 

Early on it was a good old fashioned pitchers' duel between FSW's Abel Albarran and Hillsborough's Caleb Clover. The two matched zeroes through the first three innings with HCC managing just two hits through three and the Bucs getting just one. 

 

Hillsborough cracked the board first, getting back to back singles to start the 4^th and a sacrifice fly to left to bring home a run and take a 1-0 lead in the contest.

 

The Bucs put two on with two out in the bottom of the 4^th but couldn't come through with the big hit and trailed 1-0 at the end of four. 

 

Albarran pitched around a leadoff double in the 6^th thanks in part to a baserunning snafu by the Hawks, but the Bucs offense couldn't get anything going in the bottom half as the game flew to the 7^th with the score still 1-0 in favor of Hillsborough. 

 

The Bucs went to the bullpen in the 7^th and Hillsborough took advantage, getting a solo homer to left to double their lead to 2-0. 

 

FSW got to the Hawk bullpen in the 7^th as well, but the results didn't change as a 1-2-3 inning sent the game to the 8^th with Hillsborough in front 2-0. 

 

Nothing changed in the 8^th and Hillsborough added to their lead in the 9^th with three runs on three hits to put the Bucs in a 5-0 hole going into their final at bats. 

 

The Bucs fought off the shutout with a solo home run from Jake Mueller in the bottom of the 9^th , but that is all they would get as back to back pop outs on the infield ended it as FSW went down 5-1. 

 

The Bucs were outhit 12-2 in the contest with Mueller and Ty Hamilton picking up the only two FSW knocks on the afternoon. Albarran was the tough luck loser, falling to 1-1 on the year after going six innings and allowing just one run while striking out six. 

 

FSW falls to 15-4 overall and 5-2 in Citrus Conference play while Hillsborough gets back to .500 at 9-9 overall and 3-3 in league action. 

 

The Bucs and Hawks will wrap up the series on Saturday in Tampa with a doubleheader beginning at noon at the New York Yankees Himes Complex.