Posted: Mar 31, 2023
FORT MYERS, Fla.- AJ Shaver homered twice and Kelan Hoover turned in his best start as a Buc as the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers knocked off the Indian River State Pioneers 9-4 Friday afternoon at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers to even their Southern Conference series at a game apiece.
The Bucs got off to a picture perfect start as Kelan Hoover worked a quick 1-2-3 top of the 1st and Sergio Rivera led off the bottom of the 1st with a triple before AJ Shaver cranked out a two run home run to left field to quickly put FSW in front 2-0.
Hoover worked around traffic in the 2nd and 3rd to keep it a 2-0 game and it remained that way until Derek Williams lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to drive home Shaver from third in the 5th to up the Bucs lead to 3-0.
The Pioneers finally got to Hoover in the 6th with a solo home run, but that was all they could get against the big righty as he exited with a 3-1 lead after 5 1/2.
The Bucs got the run back right away in the bottom of the 6th on a leadoff walk and a wild pitch later in the inning to make it a 4-1 game.
FSW blew things open in the 7th as they plated four runs on RBI doubles from Williams and Aries Samek to stretch their lead to 8-1.
Shaver's second home run of the game, a solo shot in the 8th cushioned the lead to 9-1 before Indian River made things interesting in the 9th with three runs before the Bucs slammed the door shut to take home a 9-4 win.
Shaver led an 11 hit attack for the Bucs, going 3-4 with two homers and three RBIs while Rivera, Samek, and Anthony Westsbrook each had two hits apiece. Hoover was outstanding, going six strong innings and allowing just two hits and one run while striking out six to even his 2023 record at 2-2. Zach Locke came in for two outs in the 9th to earn his first save of the season.
The Bucs even the series with the Pioneers as they improve to 25-13 overall and remain in first place in the conference standings at 7-4. Indian River drops to 20-13 overall and two games back in the race for the top spot in the Southern Conference at 5-6.
The Bucs and Pioneers will play the rubber game Saturday in Fort Pierce with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 PM.