FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Sun Conference Baseball Tournament Presented by Martz Transportation returns to Fort Myers, Fla. and the City of Palms Park for the sixth consectuvie year in 2014 with the six-team, double-elimination event taking place May 2-5. Following the disbanding of the NAIA Regional and Super Regional tournament play in 2008, The Sun Conference Tournament was revived and its home has been the former spring training park of the Boston Red Sox ever since. Embry-Riddle, Southeastern, St. Thomas, Thomas, Warner and Webber International will make the trek to Fort Myers for the tournament with the champion receiving an automatic berth to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round.
The 2013 tournament saw the Eagles of Embry-Riddle battle back from the loser's bracket to win three games on the final day of the tournament to claim their fifth tournament title, and fourth since conference tournament play returned in 2009. St. Thomas is the only other program to win the tournament over the last five seasons, winning the 2012 crown as the No. 3 seed.
The Fire will open up the conference tournament with Polk County rival Webber International. The Fire took two-out-of-three in the regular season series against the Warriors.
No. 2 Southeastern (40-14, 20-7)
The Fire are making their third appearance in the tournament, and first back-to-back trips since joining the league in 2009. Southeastern is ranked No. 19 in the NAIA Coaches' Poll and has became the first league school to reach 40 wins. SEU, coached by 500-game winner Jason Beck, lost just two TSC series all season (ERAU and Thomas), sweeping four series.
Southeastern boasts a .316 batting average as a team, outscoring opponents 365-219 with a slugging percentage of .414 and on-base percentage of .401. Bryan Muniz, a first team All-TSC infielder from 2013, is hitting .390 with 73 hits, 23 doubles and four home runs with 39 RBIs and 42 runs scored. Ricky Dearmes is close behind with a .386 average on 49 hits, nine doubles, 28 runs scored and 18 RBIs. Aldo Ferrante paces the squad with 45 RBIs on 16 extra-base hits. The Fire have 150 stolen bases in 181 tries, led by Ryne Knuth's 29 and Stetson McCollin's 25. SEU has 12 contributors hitting over .300 and four hitting above .340.
The Fire pitching staff has a 3.44 ERA in 453.0 innings, striking out 390 opponents, allowing only a .241 average against. Andres Cancio is 9-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 73.1 innings. Cancio has two complete games while fellow starter Nick Beavers has two more to go along with a 3.15 ERA in 74.1 innings of work. Patrick Kinney is a perfect 6-0 with 2.85 ERA in 11 starts with 66 Ks and a .205 batting average against. Tyler Murphy rankss econd in the country with 15 saves. He is 5-0 with a 0.55 ERA with 42 strikeouts in 32.2 innings on the mound.
Southeastern is 2-4 in The Sun Conference Tournament, finishing third in 2013.
No. 5 Webber International (29-26, 13-14)
The Warriors are making their fourth straight appearnace in The Sun Conference Tournament, fifth overall since 2009. Brad Niethammer, who is also among the 500-win club, and his team were never swept in any TSC series in 2014.
The Warriors have a .273 team average on 485 hits, including 74 extra-base knocks with 182 walks and 101 stolen bases. Shae Cothran is hitting .360 with 64 hits, 34 RBIs and 39 runs scored, while Austin Aubuchon has posted a .332 average on 66 hits, 14 doubles and 38 RBIs with 32 runs scored. Chris Suto has swiped 15 bags while Ramon Sanchez had 28 RBIs and 25 runs scored with 30 walks on the year.
Josh Ganus is WIU's ace with a 7-5 mark and 3.09 ERA in 93.1 innings with 76 strikeouts. John David has been the go to Warrior out of the pen with 19 appearances and a 0.83 ERA and 2-0 mark and a .157 BAA. Sean Stanislawski leads the starters with a 1.85 ERA in 43.2 innings.
Webber International is 1-8 in The Sun Conference Tournament since 2009.
The games begin in earnest on Friday, May 2 as the top-seeded Eagles take on the sixth-seeded Royals at 11 a.m., followed by No. 2 Southeastern and No. 5 Webber International at 3 p.m. and the nightcap will feature the third-seeded Night Hawks versus the fourth-seeded Bobcats with first pitch slated for 7 p.m.
With a win, the Fire would play either Thomas or St. Thomas Saturday night at 7 p.m. A loss would send them to the loser's bracket for an 11 a.m. game against either Embry-Riddle or Warner.
Visit the 2014 Sun Conference Baseball Tournament Headquarters to keep up to date with all the action, and note that every game can be heard live by CLICKING HERE.
