LAKELAND, FLA.-- The Fire got the job done last week in their three games against Ave Maria. Over the weekend, Southeastern came away with the three-game sweep against the Gyrenes, winning games by scores of 16-2, 11-3, and 8-4.
The Fire are now riding a five-game winning streak as they carry momentum into Friday, when Warner comes to town.
Warner will come into the crucial Sun Conference series 21-14 overall and 6-3 in conference play. They're currently on a two-game losing streak after suffering defeats at the hands of Grove City and Concordia (Mich.).
The projected starters for the Fire will be
Jordan Gard,
Nate Harmon, and
Brandon Goff. Gard has pitched 10 consecutive scoreless innings, as the lefty has lowered his ERA down to 3.38 and improved his record to 5-2.
The pitching staff will need to keep a close watch on outfielder Randy Rodriguez of the Royals. He leads the team in batting average (.366), RBI (30), and stolen bases (12).
Tyler Perkins and Jordan Pike have started the most Sun Conference games for the Royals this season.
Their pitching staff will need to be at the top of their game as they go through the dangerous Southeastern lineup. The team as a whole is batting .335, and eight of the nine starters have batting averages above .300. The heart of the Fire order, which consists of
Chris Mattison,
Mike D'Acunti, and
Derek Martin, are all batting above .400. Both Mattison and D'Acunti are putting up impressive power numbers too; Mattison has 11 home runs and 38 RBI this year and D'Acunti has nine homers to go with 37 RBI.
The first game of the series is set to start Friday evening at 6 p.m. while the last two games will take place Saturday afternoon at 12 and 3 p.m.. All games will be played at Broer Stadium on the campus of Southeastern. You can follow @SEUFireBaseball on Twitter to keep up with updates.
