10 Bucs Earn All-Citrus Conference Honors
Coming off of their first Citrus Conference Championship in program history, the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers were rewarded by the league on Friday as 10 players and Head Coach Zac Cole were named the All-Conference Team.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.- Coming off of their first Citrus Conference Championship in program history, the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers were rewarded by the league on Friday as 10 players and Head Coach Zac Cole were named the All-Conference Team.
The Bucs landed six players on the Citrus Conference 1st Team All-Conference Team.
A pair of Bucs outfielders highlighted the list in sophomores Carlos Sanchez and Devin Parks. Sanchez drove the Bucs top ranked offense this season, accounting for 107 runs, scoring 54 and driving in 53 during the regular season. He hit .322 with 17 doubles and 6 home runs while also stealing 30 bases. Parks led the Bucs with a .369 average during the regular season, collecting 16 extra base hits with 9 doubles, 3 triples, and 4 home runs while driving in 33 runs and swiping 17 bases.
Bucs backstop Nik Pereira was also a 1st Team selection, impacting the game on both sides of the ball this season, hitting .361 with 11 doubles, 10 home runs, and 41 RBIs while also fielding at a .984 clip behind the plate in 46 games.
Slugger Jake Mueller was the lone 1st Team All-Conference infielder for FSW. He led the conference in doubles with 19 while finishing 2nd in RBIs with 56 and 4th in home runs with a dozen.
Two Bucs pitchers were 1st Team All-Conference picks as Abel Albarran earned the nod as a starter and Josiah Velazquez picked them up as a reliever. Albarran was 5-1 for the Bucs during the regular season and ranked 4th in the league with a 3.79 ERA in 59 1/3 innings worked. Velazquez was automatic out of the FSW bullpen, throwing in 18 games and finishing in the top three in the league in both saves with 5 and ERA at 2.41.
A pair of Bucs infielders earned 2nd Team All-Conference honors as the double play combo of Luke Orfi and Anthony Ruocco up the middle found themselves together on the team. Orfi and Ruocco tied for the team lead during the regular season with 64 hits each. Orfi hit .340 with 17 extra base hits and ranked 3rd in the conference with 33 stolen bases. Ruocco was second on the team with a .368 average and ripped 13 doubles while scoring a team best 58 runs and going 20 for 20 in stolen base attempts.
Brock Knoerr was a 2nd Team All-Conference pick at designated hitter. Knoerr reached base at a .500 clip during the regular season which was 4th best in the league while hitting .354 with 31 RBIs and 40 runs scored for the Bucs.
The Bucs final 2nd Teamer was righthander Andrew McLaughlin who was 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA for FSW. He logged 40 1/3 innings on the mound, striking out 47 and posting a 1.19 WHIP over 10 appearances.
Leading the group was Bucs Head Coach Zac Cole who was named the Citrus Conference Coach of the Year for the first time in his career after guiding the Bucs to a Conference Championship in his third season at the helm. FSW spent the entirety of the 2025 season ranked in the Top 15 of the NJCAA National Poll and the Bucs finished the regular season 39-13 to earn the top seed for the FCSAA Championships.
The Bucs punched their ticket to the FCSAA Final Four for the second straight season for the first time in program history over the weekend and will take on league rival State College of Florida in their first game of the Championship tournament on Friday in Port Charlotte.