Posted: Mar 25, 2025
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The St. Petersburg Titans had to make the trip back up the coast empty handed on Tuesday after three Florida SouthWestern pitchers combined for a pair of shutouts in an 8-0, 2-0 sweep in Citrus Conference action at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers.
The top ranked Bucs cracked the scoreboard first in game one as Faith Wharton squared up a 2-0 pitch and sent it flying out of the yard for a three run home run to give FSW a 3-0 lead.
The Bucs took advantage of some sloppy St. Petersburg defense in the 3rd to extend the lead as a pair of errors netted FSW a tally to make it 4-0.
FSW starter Leah Meyer made sure that lead held as she retired the side in order in the 4th and 5th to keep it a 4-0 game and the Bucs added a run in the bottom of the 5th on another Titan error to pad the lead to 5-0.
McKenzie Bailey-McDowell came in out of the FSW bullpen and continued their dominance on the mound with a scoreless 6th and the Bucs offense took it from there, scoring three times in the bottom of the inning including a defacto walk off two run double from Giorgiana Woods to kick in the run rule with FSW winning it 8-0 in six.
Meyer fired five scoreless frames, allowing just two hits while striking out four to improve to 10-0 on the year. The Bucs banged out 10 hits including a pair of extra base knocks from Wharton who homered and drove in three in the victory.
Game two was a pitcher's duel early on as FSW's Lizzy Kwakernaak and St. Pete's Angelique Ballew matched zeroes through the first three innings of action.
Kwakernaak got three pop ups to work through a quick top of the 4th and the Bucs finally broke through in the bottom of the inning as she helped herself with an RBI groundout to put FSW in front 1-0.
Ballew kept the Bucs at bay, but the Titans defensive struggles continued to hamper their opportunities for success as another St. Pete error led to an unearned FSW run in the 5th to double the lead to 2-0.
Kwakernaak worked a quick 1-2-3 top of the 6th and the Bucs threatened to add some insurance in the bottom half but couldn't, but that didn't matter as Kwakernaak finished what she started, retiring the Titans in order in the 7th to lock down a 2-0 win for the Bucs to complete the sweep.
The game featured just seven total hits, two for St. Pete and five for FSW. The Titans committed the game's only three errors, two of which led to the Bucs runs in the contest.
Kwakernaak did it all, throwing a complete game shutout, allowing just two hits while striking out eight to improve to 6-1 in the circle on the season while also driving in the game winning run for FSW.
The Bucs improve to 31-1 on the year with the sweep while remaining on top of the Citrus Conference standings at 17-1. St. Petersburg's struggles continue as they fall to 13-25 overall and 1-17 in conference action.
The Bucs will put their six game win streak on the line Saturday when they travel to Melbourne to take on #19 Eastern Florida in a doubleheader beginning at 1 PM.
