March 5, 2026
Baserunning Blunders Mar Bucs Series Opener vs. Indian River
Tom Emanski won't be using any clips from Thursday's series opening loss for the #6 Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers in his next Baserunning Drills video as the Bucs saw three innings end on the bases in a 9-7 defeat to the Indian River Pioneers in Fort Pierce.
FORT PIERCE, Fla.- Tom Emanski won't be using any clips from Thursday's series opening loss for the #6 Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers in his next Baserunning Drills video as the Bucs saw three innings end on the bases in a 9-7 defeat to the Indian River Pioneers in Fort Pierce.
It looked like the Bucs were going to get off to a good start as they picked up back to back singles to begin the ballgame, but three straight strikeouts ended the threat.
The Bucs shot themselves in the foot in multiple different ways in the bottom of the 1st as three free passes and a pair of errors led to a five run inning for Indian River to give the Pioneers an early 5-0 lead.
Robbie Demetree homered to begin the FSW 2nd to get them on the board and later in the inning Nick April-Gath singled home a run but he was picked off at first base to end the inning with the score 5-2 in favor of Indian River.
The Pioneers returned the free pass gift to the Bucs in the 3rd as they walked four, including two with the bases loaded to push runs home to make it a one run game and Elijah Coston delivered two more to put the Bucs in front for the first time 6-5. But further damage was averted as the Bucs were thrown out on the bases to end the second straight inning, leaving two runners on while leading 6-5 after 2 1/2.
Indian River took the lead back in the 4th, pushing across a pair of runs against the FSW bullpen to go in front 7-6.
The Bucs got their second long ball of the game, this one off the bat of Aiden Talarico with one out in the 5th to tie the game back up at 7-7.
The game didn't stay tied long though as a one out single followed by a home run for the Pioneers put Indian River back in front 9-7.
FSW again had traffic on the bases in the 6th but also once again, baserunning blunders hampered their operations as another runner was picked off in scoring position followed by a runner caught stealing to end the inning with the tying run at the plate in a 9-7 game.
Judd Hildreth and Gavin Kindell gave the Bucs a chance from there, posting three straight zeros out of the FSW bullpen, but the offense couldn't get anything going as the Pioneers blanked them in the final four innings to finish off a 9-7 victory.
There was traffic on the bases all game for both sides as FSW finished with 10 hits and walked 9 times while Indian River had 13 hits, drew 6 walks and were hit twice in the win. Coston finished 2-3 with a pair of RBIs for the Bucs while Talarico scored twice and knocked in a pair. Andy Hernandez took the loss on the mound, going 1 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and two runs to fall to 0-1 on the year.
FSW falls to 17-6 overall and 7-3 in Citrus Conference play with the loss while Indian River wins for just the second time in their past 10 games to improve to 10-11 overall and 3-7 in league play.
The two teams will meet again Saturday at Buccaneers Park in Fort Myers with a doubleheader scheduled to begin at noon.