AN MD80 CREW; TAXIING FOR TKOF AT SRQ; CAME WITHIN 50 FT OF COLLIDING WITH A SINGLE ENG ACFT.

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SARASOTA GND CLRED US TO PUSH AT OUR DISCRETION AND CALL FOR TAXI. WHEN I CALLED FOR TAXI; THE CTLR CLRED US TO 'TAXI TO RWY 14.' I READ IT BACK AS GIVEN AND NO FURTHER INSTRUCTION OR CLARIFICATION WAS RECEIVED. AFTER CLRING THE RAMP AREA; WE COMPLETED THE TAXI CHKLIST AND I STARTED OUR #2 ENG. WE APCHED THE INTXN WITH RWY 4/22 AND I CLRED TO MY R AND SAID 'CLR ON THE R' AND THE CAPT CALLED 'CLR ON THE L.' WE WERE JUST SHORT OF THE RWY WHEN GND SAID 'ACR X; STOP.' WE COMPLIED AND SAW A SMALL CESSNA TYPE SINGLE ENG ACFT TAXIING L TO R. WE STOPPED AND THE CESSNA PASSED WITH 40-50 FT CLRNC OFF THE NOSE. WE QUERIED GND CTL AND THE CTLR CLAIMED WE HAD BEEN CLRED TO TAXI TO RWY 14 HOLD SHORT RWY 4. WHEN WE SAID THAT WE HAD NOT RECEIVED A HOLD SHORT CLRNC; THE GND CTLR SAID HE WASN'T REALLY SURE SINCE THEY'D HAD A SWITCHOVER AT THE POS AND HE HADN'T BEEN THE ONE TO CLR US TO TAXI. THE REST OF THE TAXI; TKOF; AND FLT WERE UNEVENTFUL. I BELIEVE THE GND CTLR DID NOT CLARIFY OUR INSTRUCTIONS TO EACH OTHER WHEN THEY SWITCHED OVER; RESULTING IN ONE CTLR CLRING US ALL THE WAY; WHILE THE OTHER THOUGHT WE WERE HOLDING SHORT.