CLEARWATER, Fla.-Devin Parks and Anthony Ruocco combined for 12 hits Saturday as the #4 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers took both games of a doubleheader against the St. Petersburg Titans by scores of 7-6 and 12-3 to sweep the three game set to open Citrus Conference play. 

 

Both teams had chances early on in game one of the doubleheader, but stranded runners in scoring position before FSW got the scoring going in the 3^rd on a successful double steal and an RBI triple from Anthony Ruocco to give the Bucs a 2-0 lead.  Ruocco later scored on a sacrifice fly from Carlos Sanchez against his old team and after 2 ½ it was 3-0 FSW.  

 

The Bucs didn't have the lead for long as St. Pete responded with four in the bottom of the 3^rd including a two out, two run home run to give the Titans a 4-3 lead at the end of three. 

 

After two quick outs in the Bucs half of the 4th, Michael McAloose ripped a double down the line and Ty Hamilton drove him home with a single up the middle to tie the game back up at 4. 

 

St. Pete had a chance to get the run right back, getting a leadoff double to begin their half of the 4th, but Andrew McLaughlin came in out of the FSW bullpen and got the Bucs out of trouble and kept the game tied at 4. 

 

For the second straight inning the Bucs put together a two out rally in the 5th, this time Devin Parks came up in the RBI situation and he cashed it in with a single to left to put FSW in front 5-4. 

 

The Bucs added some insurance in the 6th, taking advantage of three free passes from St. Pete pitching to load the bases before Ruocco grounded one back through the box to bring home a pair and stretch the FSW lead to 7-4. 

 

Someone forgot to tell the Titans they were 2-10 going against the top team in the Citrus Conference as they loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 6^th and pushed two runs across to draw back to within one at 7-6. 

 

Parks doubled with one out in the FSW 7^th as they looked for some insurance, but three strikeouts around the two bagger kept it a 7-6 game at stretch time. 

 

McLaughlin took the mound for his fourth inning of work in the 7^th and answered the bell, needing just 10 pitches to mow through the Titans order 1-2-3 to close things out and give FSW a series clinching 7-6 win. 

 

Ruocco and Parks powered the offense, finishing with three hits a piece while Ruocco drove in three and scored two more and Parks finished with a pair of doubles and an RBI. Hamilton chipped in a 2-2 game with a RBI and two runs scored at the bottom of the lineup. 

 

McLaughlin earned the win on the mound to improve to 3-0 on the year, going 3 1/3 innings allowing just one earned run while striking out three for FSW. 

 

 

Game two of the doubleheader started much like game one as both teams had chances early but couldn't convert as FSW put two on with no out in the 1^st and couldn't squeeze a run across, loaded the bases with two outs in the 2^nd and again got blanked, and then had traffic again in the 3^rd but couldn't get the big hit as the game went to the 4^th scoreless between the Bucs and Titans. 

 

That would all change in the 4th. 

 

Nik Pereira was hit by a pitch to start the Bucs half of the frame and quickly scored when Brock Knoerr ripped a triple on the first pitch he saw to make it 1-0. One pitch later Hamilton doubled to right to make it a 2-0 game and he scored as Luke Orfi ripped an RBI single the other way. Ruocco continued his big day with an RBI double to make it 4-0 and two batters later Jake Mueller shot a double the other way to give FSW a 5-0 lead.  St. Pete went to the bullpen, but it didn't matter as Parks greeted the Titan pen with a two run home run to left for FSW's seventh consecutive hit to make it 8-0. They still weren't done as Pereira doubled to get the Bucs going again and he scored on Knoerr's second RBI knock of the inning and Orfi and Ruocco banged back to back two out RBI hits to open up an 11-0 lead for FSW. 

 

After the Bucs recorded 11 runs on 11 hits in the 4th, the Titans didn't want anything to do with the strike zone to start the 5^th as a pair of walks started the frame and both scored as Pereira picked up his second double in as many innings and Knoerr collected another RBI to make it 13-0 Bucs. 

 

The Titans broke up the shutout with a home run in the bottom of the 5th, but it wasn't enough to keep the game going as the run rule kicked in with FSW completing the sweep with a 13-2 victory in five. 

 

The Bucs banged out 16 hits in the win with Ruocco and Parks again in the middle of the action.  Ruocco was 3-4 with a double and two RBIs while Parks was a perfect 3-3 with two doubles, a homer, and four runs accounted for. Orfi finished 3-4 with a pair of RBIs at the top of the order and Knoerr returned after a six game absence to go 2-3 with a triple and three RBIs.  

 

Overshadowed by the offense was the effort on the mound by the Bucs as Parker Burgess went three scoreless innings to earn his first collegiate win while Josiah Velazquez continued his roll out of the FSW bullpen with a scoreless 4^th inning.  

 

 

The Bucs tie their longest winning streak in program history at 13 games as they improve to 13-1 and were the lone Citrus Conference team to sweep on the conference's opening weekend. St. Petersburg falls to 2-11 overall and begins conference play 0-3. 

 

FSW returns home Tuesday for a non-conference tilt against TNXL Academy beginning at 2:00 at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers before opening a huge three game conference set with Indian River Thursday in Fort Pierce.