LAKELAND, Fla. – On a day in which the Fire bats accumulated 28 hits and the Lions' gloves committed six errors, the No. 4 Southeastern University baseball team swept both games of a home doubleheader against the Florida Memorial University Lions by scores of 10-4 and 18-2.
Senior righty
Jamal Wilson earned his fourth consecutive win in a start in game one. The Tampa native tossed five and two thirds, with three earned runs, and eight strikeouts.
"Overall, our pitching staff did a good job on the entire weekend. They attacked the zone with some tempo," shared Head Coach
Adrian Dinkel.
The Lions struck first in the top of the second on an RBI single. However, the Fire quickly responded in the bottom half of the inning via the solo homer on a 1-2 count by redshirt sophomore
Derek Martin. In his last seven games, Martin is hitting .536 (15-28) with 11 runs scored and three RBI.
An RBI single in the bottom of the fifth by junior utility man
Kainalu Pitoy that scored
Mike D'Acunti and Martin gave SEU a 6-1 advantage. The Lions quickly responded in the top of the sixth with three runs scored on five hits.
However, the Fire pulled away once and for all on the pinch hit grand slam from senior
Luke Maher that put Southeastern up 10-4. The dinger was Maher's first of the season.
The Fire got on the board first in game two via RBI singles by Pitoy and senior infielder
Luis Diaz, as well as a sac fly by senior
Gerald Ceballos that scored
Angel Garced and put SEU up 3-0.
A two run top of the fifth by FMU cut the Fire lead to 4-2.
The Fire then went on to put together an offensive explosion in the following innings. In the bottom of the fifth, SEU scored six on three hits, three walks, and an error. In the bottom of the sixth, Southeastern scored eight runs on six hits and a pair of Florida Memorial blunders.
"In game two, we didn't try to do too much and we started taking team at bats. The score was a reflection of that," commented Coach Dinkel.
The unselfish and disciplined play at the plate was made evident by the nine walks the Fire took in the second game,
The 16 run victory margin in game two tied the largest margin of victory for Southeastern in a Sun Conference win set on 4/13/13 versus then Northwood University.
The Fire will hit the road next for a pivotal conference series versus No. 23 St. Thomas University. The first game of the weekend outing is set for next Friday at 6:00 p.m.
