January 30, 2026
Bucs Cruise Past Tigers to 5-0
The #3 Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers put it on the visiting Andrew Fighting Tigers to the tune of an 8-1, 15-7 doubleheader sweep Friday afternoon at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers to get off to their best start since the 2019 season at a perfect 5-0.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #3 Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers put it on the visiting Andrew Fighting Tigers to the tune of an 8-1, 15-7 doubleheader sweep Friday afternoon at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers to get off to their best start since the 2019 season at a perfect 5-0.
The Bucs didn't waste any time jumping on the Tigers in game one, plating a pair of runs in the bottom of the 1st to get out to an early 2-0 lead.
Andrew got a run back in the top of the 2nd to cut the Bucs lead in half to 2-1 which is where things remained through the 4th after missed opportunities for both sides with runners in scoring position through the middle innings.
The Bucs doubled their lead in the 5th as Cris Walley smoked a two out RBI double to the right center field gap to make it a 3-1 game.
FSW blew things open in the 6th as Aiden Talarico continued his tear to start the season with an RBI single back through the box and Adrian Poviones followed suit in his first at bat with the Bucs to make it a 5-1 game. They weren't done yet as Anthony Wilkie singled through the left side to bring home another run and after an Andrew error allowed a run to score and kept the inning going, the Bucs continued to punish the Tiger pitching staff with an RBI from Nick April-Gath to bump their lead to 8-1 at the end of six.
Bucs closer Nicholas Lorenz did the rest, tossing his second scoreless frame with a pair of strikeouts in the 7th to nail things down, finishing off an 8-1 win for the Bucs to move them to 4-0 on the year.
Eight different Bucs recorded a hit in the win. Bishop Quarles reached base three times and scored twice to lead the way at the top of the order. Bucs pitching struck out 11 Tiger hitters as Cole Greer went three innings and punched out 7 to earn his first win of the year before Elliot Sande and Lorenz each fired a pair of scoreless innings to finish things off out of the pen. Lorenz earned his second save of the season and sixth in his career to move him into the top five in program history in that category.
The Bucs put game two away early on as after Andrew scratched out a run in the top of the 1st, FSW exploded for a crooked number in the bottom half to take and keep control for the rest of the afternoon. Jonah Antoine got the scoring going with an RBI double to the gap and he scored on an RBI single from Greg Caban to make it 2-1 three batters into the FSW 1st. April-Gath continued the merry go round with an RBI single through the left side and later in the frame St. Antoine smacked his second run scoring hit of the inning with a two run single to right to put FSW in front 7-1.
In the Bucs 2nd Talarico worked hard to get himself in scoring position with one out, singling and then stealing second and third, but he would trot the rest of the way as April-Gath launched a two run bomb to left center to bump the Bucs lead to 9-1.
The Fighting Tigers had their best rally of the day in the 4th as they took advantage of an FSW error and four walks on the mound to score four runs on just two hits to chop the Bucs lead in half to 9-5.
The Bucs got a run back in the 4th on a sac fly from Elijah Coston and another in the 5th on a ringing double down the line off the bat of Anthony Wilkie to make it 11-5.
After Andrew got a run in the top of the 6th , the Bucs put things away in the bottom of the inning, scoring four times, highlighted by a towering two run home run to dead center from Robbie Demetree to open up a 15-6 lead.
Andrew got a run in the 7th but it was far too little, too late, as the Bucs finished off a 15-7 victory to complete the doubleheader sweep.
The Bucs banged out 12 hits in the win, led by St. Antoine and April-Gath who combined to go 4-4 with 6 RBIs in the contest. Robert Mitchell earned the win on the mound with three solid innings in his second start of the year to move to 2-0 .
The sweep moves the Bucs to 5-0 on the year, marking their best start to a season since 2019 while Andrew falls to 1-3.
The Bucs and Fighting Tigers will wrap up their three game set on Saturday at noon at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers.
