LAKELAND, FLA.-- The struggles continue for Southeastern baseball as the Fire dropped their fifth conference game in six contests. The Fire took game one 10-3, but dropped the second and third games by scores of 2-1 and 7-1.
Game one started on Saturday afternoon after rain postponed the series opener on Friday night. The Fire had jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the second inning Friday night before the rain started; when play continued at noon Saturday, the Fire held their comfortable lead until the sixth, when they tacked on two more runs on RBIs from
Mike D'Acunti and
Luis Diaz.
Brandon Goff (5-4) pitched eight strong innings in relief of
Jordan Gard. The righty scattered eight hits, gave up one earned run, and struck out five.
Diego Perez was a catalyst at the top of the order for Southeastern. The designated hitter went 3-5 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Derek Martin went 2-5 with two runs scored.
Chris Mattison was 3-5 with a run scored, three RBI's, and two stolen bases.
Hunter Bonner also stole a pair of bases to bring his total up to 12 on the year.
The Fire couldn't capitalize on anything in game two on their way to a 2-1 defeat. Their lone run came on a RBI single off the bat of
Danny Acevedo in the fourth.
Nate Harmon (3-2) was handed the tough-luck loss; he went eight innings, giving up five hits, two earned runs, and struck out nine.
The usually red-hot bats stayed quiet again on Sunday; Southeastern only registered three hits on their way to a 7-1 defeat. Their lone run came in the seventh inning when Garced hit his fourth home run of the year.
Southeastern now stands at 32-19 and 13-11 in Sun Conference play. The regular season finale will be Monday night as Trinity Baptist College comes to Lakeland for a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m.
