Posted: Feb 08, 2025
PALATKA, Fla.- The #4 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers earned a pair of signature early season wins on Saturday at the Capital City Bank Classic in Palatka, first defeating DII #3 St. Johns River 7-4 before taking it to #8 Florence Darlington Tech 13-6 to improve to 9-1 on the year.
It took all of three pitches for the Bucs to take a lead in their first game of the day against the host St. Johns River Vikings. Luke Orfi sent a 2-0 pitch sailing over the center field wall to lead off the FSW half of the 1st inning to give the Bucs an early lead and later in the inning a sacrifice fly from Jake Mueller doubled the FSW lead to 2-0 at the end of a half inning of action.
The Vikings got a solo home run of their own to begin the 2nd to cut the Bucs lead in half to 2-1, but FSW quickly responded and got the run back on a one out RBI double from Carlos Sanchez in the 3rd to push the lead back to two at 3-1.
The back and forth continued as St. Johns River took advantage of an FSW error to score an unearned run in the 3rd to make it a one run game once again at 3-2.
The Bucs gave themselves a bit of breathing room in the 4th as Orfi drove home his second run of the game with an RBI single and Jonah St. Antoine singled home a run behind him to make it 5-2 FSW at the end of 3 ½.
St. Johns River got a run in the 4th to make it a 5-3 game and it remained that way until the 6th when a solo home run for the Vikings tightened it back to a one run game at 5-4 as the teams went to the 7th.
The Vikings gifted the Bucs some insurance in the 7th as a pair of hit batters and a walk loaded the bases without the ball being put in play and a passed ball and two more walks gave FSW two runs without swinging the bat to make it 7-4.
With victory in their grasp, the Bucs stayed with the hot hand out of the bullpen and Ryan Grzesiak delivered, striking out the side in the bottom of the 7th to nail down the 7-4 victory.
The Bucs outhit the Vikings 9-7 in the win. Orfi finished 3-5 with a homer and two RBIs at the top of the order while St. Antoine was 2-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Grzesiak was locked in out of the Bucs bullpen, going 3 1/3 innings, allowing just three hits and a solo home run while striking out five to earn his first win of the 2025 season.
It was another quick start for FSW in their second game of the day against #8 Florence Darlington Tech. The Stingers walked a pair and hit another to load the bases with one out in the 1st and Devin Parks singled through the left side to bring home two and make it 2-0 FSW early on. Later in the inning Loic Guillemette walked with the bases loaded to make it 3-0 FSW after one inning of play.
The Stingers got a run back on a solo home run to begin the 2nd, but that is all the damage they would do through four as the Bucs continued to lead it 3-1.
The Bucs added to their lead in the 4th as Orfi homered for the second straight game to make it 5-1 and Sanchez and Guillemette drove home runs to blow the lead open to 8-1.
The Bucs and Stingers traded runs in the 5th to make it a 9-2 game and Florence Darlington finally made it a game with two more in the 6th to trim the Bucs lead to 9-4.
The Bucs got the runs back and then some in their next trip to the plate as Nathan Fink hit a two run bomb to right to make it 11-4 before Nik Pereira did the same to left to open up a 13-4 advantage for the Purple and Aqua.
The Stingers scored a pair in the 7th before Cole Greer came in out of the FSW bullpen to shut things down and the Bucs went on to win it 13-6 in seven.
Eight of the Bucs nine starters had a hit in the win with Parks, Fink, Guillemette, and Pereira each collecting two hits and two RBIs. Andrew McLaughlin earned his second win of the year on the mound, going 4 1/3 and allowing just three hits and to runs while striking out six to improve to 2-0 on the year.
FSW has now won nine in a row after dropping their season opener in extra innings. The Bucs sit at 9-1 on the year and will take on the 8th ranked Stingers again on Sunday morning at 10 to wrap up their trip to Palatka.
