Posted: Jan 25, 2025
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #4 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers opening day woes continued Saturday afternoon at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers as FSW dropped a 4-3 extra innings decision to D2 #3 St. Johns River to fall for the third straight season in their opener.
St. Johns River got on the board right away in the top of the 1st, using a two out walk and a two run home run to deep left to jump out to an early 2-0 lead on the Bucs.
The Vikings were looking for more in the 3rd as they put a pair of runners in scoring position with one out, but a lineout and a strikeout ended the threat and kept it a 2-0 game.
The Bucs rolled the momentum over into the bottom of the frame as Nik Pereira singled up the middle to start the inning and later came around to score on a Luke Orfi single to cut the St. Johns River lead in half at 2-1. The Bucs went on to load the bases with one out in the inning, but a tailor-made double play ended the inning and the threat to keep it a 2-1 game in favor of the Vikings after three.
Brady Jones threw scoreless frames in the 4th and 5th for the Bucs and the FSW offense rewarded their righthander with the equalizer in the bottom of the 5th as Orfi tripled down the right field line with one out and scored on a groundout from Carlos Sanchez to tie the score at 2 at the end of five.
Ryan Grzesiak fired back to back 1-2-3 innings in the 6th and 7th , striking out three along the way to keep the game tied at 2 as the teams went to stretch time.
The Bucs took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the 7th as Pereira reached base to leadoff an inning for the second time in the game and came around to score on a St. Johns River error to give FSW their first lead of the game at 3-2. The Bucs were threatening for more with two on and one out, but another ground ball double play ended the inning and kept it a 3-2 game as the teams went to the 8th.
The Bucs got into a jam in the top of the 8th as St. Johns River looked to even things up, but Cole Greer came in out of the FSW bullpen to extinguish the flames and keep FSW up 3-2 to the 9th .
A one out walk proved costly for the Bucs in the 9th as needing just one out for victory, the Vikings got a triple off the wall in left center to bring a run home and tie the score at 3. St. Johns River used two more FSW free passes to load the bases, but Greer got a fly out to strand the ducks on the pond to keep it a 3-3 game.
FSW put together a two out rally in the bottom of the 9th as they looked to walk things off, but a groundout left two aboard to send the game to extra innings knotted at 3.
Nicholas Lorenz worked around a one out single in the top of the 10th thanks to Pereira gunning down a runner at second to keep it a 3-3 game to the bottom of the 10th .
Things started promising for the Bucs in the bottom of the 10th with a leadoff single from Anthony Ruocco, but Ruocco was thrown out at second after a failed bunt attempt to stunt the Bucs rally for the time being. The Bucs would put together another charge later in the inning, loading the bases with two outs, but they couldn't come through with runners in scoring position once again as a groundout ended the threat and the inning to push it to the 11th .
St. Johns River put their first two hitters of the 11th on, but after a failed sacrifice bunt attempt, it looked like the Bucs were out of trouble with a ground ball on the infield, but only the front half of the double play was taken care of and the throw trickled away at the first base bag to allow a Viking run to score to take the lead 4-3.
The Bucs rolled their lineup over in the 11th as they looked to tie thing up again, but they went down quietly in order to end the game as St. Johns River pulled off the come from behind win 4-3.
FSW lost despite outhitting the Vikings 9-4 in the contest. Orfi went 2-4 and reached base four times for FSW while Ruocco also had a multi-hit game, finishing 2-4 in the two hole. Jones and Grzesiak combined for four scoreless innings out of the FSW bullpen, combining for six strikeouts, but didn't factor into the decision. Lorenz took the loss in his Bucs debut, allowing two hits and one unearned run in 1 2/3 innings to fall to 0-1 on the year.
The Bucs drop their season opener for the third straight season and will look to even things up on Sunday when they host the Vikings in a noon start from Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers.
