FORT MYERS, Fla.- It was a day of ups and downs for the #9 Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers on Saturday underneath rainy skies in Fort Myers. The Bucs turned things on late for a 9-3 win in game one of their doubleheader against St. Petersburg and looked like they were cruising to a sweep in game two, but a disastrous 7^th inning was too much to overcome as the Titans stole the finale 7-6 to earn the Saturday split.

Game one got off to a good start for the Bucs as Anthony Wilkie dealt a 1-2-3 top of the 1^st inning and Nick April-Gath homered to leadoff the bottom of the frame to give FSW a quick 1-0 lead.

St. Petersburg answered right away in the 2^nd though, taking advantage of an FSW error to push a pair of runs across to take their first lead of the game at 2-1 at the end of two.

The Bucs retook the lead in the 4^th as Evan Taveras crushed a 2-2 pitch deep and out to left for a three run home run to make it 4-2 FSW after four complete.

The Bucs took advantage of three free passes to load the bases in the 5^th and Keenan Jabeth came through in the clutch with a single the other way to drive home a run to pad their lead to three at 5-2.

The Titans wouldn't go away, scratching across a run in the top of the 6^th to get back to within two at 5-3.

FSW put the game away in the bottom of the 6^th as their first six hitters of the inning reached base including a two run single from Jonah St. Antoine and an RBI double from Aiden Talarico to extend their lead to 9-3.

In out of the FSW bullpen, Elijah Coston closed things out from there, working around a two out walk in the 7^th to finish off the Titans and seal up a 9-3 win to clinch the series win for the Bucs.

The Bucs outhit the Titans 10-2 in the win with April-Gath and St. Antoine leading the way at the top of the lineup with both collecting two hits and combining for three RBIs and three runs scored. Wilkie earned the win on the mound, grinding through 5 1/3 innings, allowing just two hits and one earned run while striking out four to improve to 7-2 on the year. Coston earned his first save of the season for the Bucs with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to close things out.

#9 FLORIDA SOUTHWESTERN/ST. PETERSBURG GAME ONE BOX SCORE

Game two was a pitcher's dual early on as FSW's Parker Burgess and St. Pete's Liam Furey matched zeros through the first three frames.

Burgess continued to dominate with a 1-2-3 top of the 4^th and the Bucs offense finally broke through against Furey in the bottom of the inning as Tyler June ripped an RBI single back up the middle to drive home a run and put FSW in front 1-0.

The Bucs broke things open in the 5^th as three straight doubles from St. Antoine, Talarico, and Cris Walley plated three runs for FSW and later in the inning a sacrifice fly from Greg Caban made it 5-0 Buccaneers.

Caban then showed off his arm in the next inning, throwing out a runner at third to end the St. Pete 6^th to keep the Bucs in front 5-0 at the end of six complete.

Burgess left the game after six sparkling innings of shutout baseball on the mound, but all heck broke loose for the Bucs as they went to the bullpen in the 7^th.

The Titans matched their hit total for the first six innings on the first two pitches of the 7^th and a walk loaded the bases for St. Pete with one out. Back to back singles brought home runs to make it a 5-2 game before a double shot the other way cut the Bucs lead to one in the blink of an eye. A groundout tied the game at 5 before the Titans sixth hit of the inning pushed another across to shockingly put St. Pete in front 6-5.

After two quick outs in the bottom of the 7^th the Bucs mounted a rally as Adrian Poviones singled and stole second before Coston drove him in with a top spin liner to tie the game back up at 6 at the end of seven.

The Bucs shot themselves in the foot on defense in the 8^th, mishandling a bunt after a St. Pete leadoff single to give the Titans runners on the corners with nobody out. They minimized the damage to one run, but it was enough to put St. Pete back in front 7-6.

FSW got their leadoff man on in the bottom of the 8^th as April-Gath walked to begin the frame, but he was stuck there for the rest of the inning as a foul out, a strikeout, and a ground ball quieted the Bucs offense and kept it a 7-6 game into the 9^th.

Cole Greer gave the Bucs a chance with a 1-2-3 top of the 9^th to set up a dramatic finish with the sun fading in the bottom of the 9^th.

The Bucs grinded out a pair of at bats in the bottom of the 9^th, drawing walks to put the tying run in scoring position and the winning run on with two outs, but a pop up on the infield ended the threat and the game as St. Pete held on to pull off the upset 7-6.

Burgess' best outing of the year was spoiled as after he went six innings of shutout baseball, allowing just two hits while striking out six, the Titans ended up outhitting the Bucs 11-9 with nine hits in the final three frames. June and Coston each had two hits and an RBI for the Bucs to lead the offense in the defeat.

#9 FLORIDA SOUTHWESTERN/ST. PETERSBURG GAME TWO BOX SCORE

The split moves FSW to 29-10 overall and 17-7 in conference play and while they win the series, the loss in the finale drops them one game back in the chase for their second straight Citrus Conference Championship. St. Petersburg goes to 14-24 overall and pulls out of last place in the league standings with the game two win at 7-17.

The Bucs will be idle until next Thursday when they begin a key three game series with #20 Central Florida who they are chasing for the top spot in the Citrus Conference standings. The Bucs and Patriots will play Thursday in Ocala before moving to Fort Myers for a doubleheader beginning at 1 PM Saturday at Buccaneers Park.