HARDEEVILLE, S.C. - Southeastern's formidable offense guided the Fire to a pair of wins over the #18 ranked USCB Sand Sharks in this afternoon's twin bill.
Game 1: The Fire were able to seal the first game of the doubleheader 19-9 this afternoon with an offensive onslaught.
Right from the beginning the Fire applied pressure to the Sand Sharks when Kainalu Pitoy singled into left field to score Luis Diaz to give the Fire an early 1-0 lead in the first. However, the Sand Sharks battled back in the bottom half of the frame to take a 3-1 lead.
The deficit did not last long when Mike D'Acunti and Pitoy both launched light tower type homeruns over the right field wall in the 3rd and 4th innings respectively. Southeastern proceeded to tack on six runs in the top half of the 4th to extend the lead to 9-3.
In the fifth, USCB cut the lead to five with the help Thomas Estopare who reached base safely and was later brought home by the double down the left field line by Kal Davis. While Davis finished the game 4-5 with two RBIs, it was not nearly enough to catch the freight train that was the Fire offense.
Although the Sand Sharks put up three runs in the bottom of the 6th, the Fire came right back and tallied up four. It all started in the top of the 7th when De'John Suber singled to lead off the inning. The supporting cast of Gerald Ceballos and Alex Stephens, Pitoy, and Angel Garced all played a part in the five run inning to move the score to 15-7 Fire.
The 8th and the 9th innings for the Fire were just as impressive as the team was able to score four runs to bring the total to 19-9 in favor of the Fire.
Jamal Wilson picked up the win for the Fire throwing 5 ? innings and collecting seven strikeouts. Oscar Sandoval threw 3 ? innings to close the door securing his first save of the season.
Four members of the Fire lineup ended the game with three or more hits. Pitoy flat out raked going 3-5 with a home run and six RBIs. D'Acunti the Dix HIlls, N.Y. native went 4-5 with 2 RBIs and two runs scored. The transfer from Morehead State, Stephens collected three hits and came across home plate all three times he reached base. Diaz, a native of Miami was the catalyst at the top of the lineup going 4-7 with a trio of RBIs.
Game 2: Southeastern picked-up right where they left off closing out the doubleheader with a 5-2 victory over the Sand Sharks.
Nate Harmon was dialed in for the Fire dealing seven innings of one hit baseball. The native of Manassas, Virginia was able to command his fastball which then set up his breaking pitches and kept Sand Shark hitters off-balanced all evening. In doing so, Harmon was able to collect his third win of the year with John Jaeger sealing the deal in the 9th picking up his first save.
The Fire offense struck first in the opening inning after Diaz walked and Stephens singled him home. Ceballos, prepped at Sterling College, then unleashed on a ball in the top of the third driving it over the left field wall to extend the Fire's lead to 3-0.
From there, the both pitchers quieted the bats until the 8th, when the Fire pushed across two more runs by way of wild pitch. In the bottom half of the frame the Sand Sharks Chris Vazquez singled to lead off the inning. Estopare and Davis both walked to set up a wild pitch that plated a run for USCB. The next batter Alex Murphy grounded back to the pitcher where the Fire elected to trade an out for a run moving the score to 5-2.
Jaeger retired the Sand Sharks in order in the bottom of the 9th securing game three of the series.
The Fire endured a long day of baseball that paid massive dividends. With a three game sweep of the #18 ranked Sand Sharks, the Fire are tied with Keiser University at the top of the Sun Conference Standings.
Southeastern will be back in action on Friday, February 17th when they take on Thomas University at 6:00 p.m.
