FT. MYERS, Fla. - Today marked the second day of competition in the Sun Conference Tournament. Southeastern took on their Polk County rival Webber International University in a game that surely did not disappoint.
Marcus Guzman helped will the Fire to a 9-6 win driving in five of the team's runs.
In the first two innings Southeastern plated seven runs before the Warriors were able to scratch across one of their own. Guzman, the native of Tampa, Florida, capped off the bottom of the first with his first double of the game coming with two strikes and two outs. In back-to-back innings Guzman doubled, however, this one cleared the bases and extended the Fire lead even further. With these two doubles Guzman tied the single game Sun Conference Tournament record.
The Fire's
Nate Harmon dazzled in his first inning of work, striking out two of the first three that came to the plate. The Warriors were able to cut into the Fire's lead in the bottom of the second mounting three runs of their own. What looked like a game the Fire were going to run away with proved not to be the case.
Southeastern tacked on a run in the fifth courtesy of
Angel Garced who doubled, but Webber answered right back with two runs.
Webber International has been a team all year long that has battled in every single game. Game three of the night did not stray away from that theme. Marcus Begg, the first team All-Conference selection, hit an RBI triple and was later brought home via a sacrifice fly off of the bat of Matt Piatt.
Harmon was sent back out for the eighth inning but was relieved by the closer
John Jaeger who had to try and execute a six out save. Jaeger nullified the threat in the eighth, getting one Warrior to strike out and the other two to fly out.
The energy in the Warrior dugout intensified as they were down to their final three outs. A couple of errors in the field set up a potentially dangerous situation for the Fire but Jaeger was able to nail the door shut securing his 10th save of the season and a victory for the Fire advancing them to the semi-final game.
Along with Guzman,
Gerald Ceballos was 3-5 at the plate, while
Luis Diaz and Garced finished with a pair of hits of their own.
With the win this evening, the Fire are slated for the 7:00 p.m. start Sunday. Their opponent will be the winner of the Thomas and Webber International game taking place at 11 a.m.
