Posted: Mar 29, 2023
FORT PIERCE, Fla.- The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers were cruising right along, leading 3-1 Wednesday afternoon in Fort Pierce as they took on the Indian River State Pioneers to begin the second half of Southern Conference play, but a six run 6th inning for the Pioneers gave Indian River the lead and they never gave it back, going on to win 9-4 to take game one of the three game series between the two.
The Bucs played with fire early and often on Wednesday as Indian River put runners on second and third with nobody out in the 2nd before FSW starter Marty Gair dialed up back to back strikeouts and got a pop out to end the threat to keep it a scoreless game after two.
FSW got on the board first in the top of the 3rd as they loaded the bases with one out before Derek Williams was hit by a pitch to give them a 1-0 lead and on the next pitch Joel Gardner ripped a two run single to right to make it 3-0 Bucs.
A leadoff walk in the bottom of the 3rd came back to hurt the Bucs as Indian River cracked the scoreboard to cut FSW's lead to 3-1.
For the second time in the game, the Pioneers put runners on second and third with one out in the 4th, but again the Bucs were able to wiggle out of the jam to remain in front 3-1.
Indian River once again had traffic in the 5th, loading the bases with two outs, but again, no Pioneers crossed the plate as FSW continued to cling to a 3-1 advantage.
In the 6th, the fire finally burned the Bucs as Indian River loaded the bases without putting the ball in play on a pair of walks and a hit batter before the third walk of the inning forced a run home and their first hit of the inning flew over the left field wall for a grand slam to put them up 6-3 in the blink of an eye. Three more free passes reloaded the bases before a single to right brought another run home to make it 7-3.
Indian River got two more in the 7th to stretch their lead to 9-3 and FSW scored just once more as the Pioneers went on to win 9-4.
The Bucs outhit the Pioneers 11-10 in the contest as Gardner, Eddie-Boe Rodriguez, and Nate Earley each had a pair of hits, but it was 10 walks and two hit batters that did the Bucs in on the mound. Henry Hardie suffered his first loss of the season, failing to get an out while allowing four earned runs to fall to 2-1 on the season.
FSW falls to 24-13 overall and 6-4 in Southern Conference play where they are now back tied with Miami Dade atop the standings. Indian River improves to 20-12 overall and climbs back to within one game of the Bucs and Sharks at 5-5 in league play.
FSW and Indian River will meet again on Friday at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers in a 2 PM first pitch before closing out the series Saturday back in Fort Pierce.