Box Score LAKELAND, FLA.– It wasn't pretty, but a win's a win. In a game that went almost four hours, the Fire came away victorious over the St. Francis Fighting Saints, 10-8, after almost blowing a 9 run lead. With the win, the Fire improve to 19-9 overall in the 2015 campaign.
Brandon Goff started on the hill for the Fire, and was able to only go for three innings. He surrendered six hits, two earned runs, and struck out two. Josh Egert (2-0) recorded the win in relief, pitching a scoreless fourth and fifth innings, giving up only one hit in the process.
The Fire bats came out of the gate red hot, scoring three in the first inning and six in the second to take a commanding 9-0 lead. Hunter Bonner was the spark-plug for Southeastern, reaching base in all five plate appearances. He led off the game with the first of his three walks and promptly stole second base. Luis Diaz drove in Bonner for his 27th RBI of the season, giving the Fire a 1-0 lead. Martin followed with an RBI single of his own to score Diaz, and Cody Hoffner plated him with a sacrifice fly.
The bottom of the second inning showed how strong the Fire can be when their offense performs at their full potential. TJ Glessner led off the rally with a single, and promptly scored on a long single by Hunter Simpson. Simpson would've had a stand up double, but he came up limping after rounding first base and had to be taken out of the game. He's listed as day-to-day. With Dallas Ducote running for Simpson, Bonner followed with a single to put him in scoring position. Bonner stole his second base of the game right before Aaron Sheaks reached on an error to score Ducote. A hanging breaking ball caught Diaz on the shoulder to load the bases, and Martin followed with a no-doubter grand slam to put the Fire ahead 9-0 after two innings.
A rain/lightning delay after the fifth inning paused action for half an hour. After play continued, it seemed that the tides completely shifted. Aldo Ferrante took the mound as the action resumed, and was only able to make it through two-thirds of an inning. He gave up two hits, walked three batters, and was credited with giving up two earned runs before being lifted for FT Corso. Corso got out of the jam, but was ineffective in the 7th, as he was only able to get one out before giving up three more runs to the Fighting Saints. Mike Ruppenthal came in to replace Corso with the bases loaded and one out, only to hit a batter and walk another before being lifted for Dylan Jameson. Jameson got out of the jam, but St. Francis worked their way back to make it a one-run game. However, Jameson worked the final 2.2 innings to earn his second save of the season and bail the Fire out of what could have been a disaster.
After the two big innings for the Fire, the bats instantly went quiet. The offense couldn't muster any more runs until the bottom of the eighth; Diaz recorded his 28th RBI with a single to score Bonner to give the Fire a big insurance run.
Martin finished 2-5 on the night with two runs scored and five RBIs. Bonner had his best game of the season, going 2-2 with three walks, three runs scored, and three stolen bases. His stolen base total is up to 17 on the year, tying teammate TJ Glessner for most in the Sun Conference. Diaz had a solid night as well, going 2-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs.
The Fire have a big Sun Conference series this weekend as they'll host the Webber International University Warriors. Webber will come into Friday night's game with a six-game winning streak on the line and an 18-10 record. They're 4-5 in conference play. First pitch Friday night will be at 6pm at Broer Stadium.
