LAKELAND, Fla.—Riding a 23-game winning streak, the Southeastern baseball team will host Webber International on Wednesday before traveling to Miami Gardens for a weekend series against Florida Memorial.
GAME 47:
#3 Southeastern (44-2, 18-0 TSC) vs. (RV) Webber International (26-16, 10-8 TSC)
Date: Wednesday April 11, 2018
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Ted A. Broer Stadium- Lakeland, Fla.
Fly the W:
With the current run, Southeastern has now had two 20-game winning stretches in the same season for the first time in program history. The Fire began the year with 21 consecutive victories and have only fallen to one team all season.
The Fire lead the Sun Conference in all five major statistical categories.
Dan Valerio, who is just seven RBIs away from the program-best 74 set in 2006, captains an explosive Southeastern offense with 67 runs batted in.
Recently, the SEU bats have been even more prolific. Over the past eight contests, the Fire have batted .349 while averaging 11.9 hits per game. After being held without a longball in 41 at bats,
Marvin Malone hit three home runs in his eight ABs versus Ave Maria and has recorded a hit in seven of the last eight games. Malone, the reigning TSC Player of the Week, was a torrid .667 at the plate this past week.
Another reason for the tremendous amount of success Southeastern has achieved in 2018 has been the pitching staff. Pitchers
Jonathan Bermudez and
Jordan Scott have been stellar on the mound for the Fire this season, posting a near-perfect 20-1 record.
Bermudez leads the conference with a 1.10 ERA in ten starts. The Coamo, Puerto Rico native is the top pitcher in the entire NAIA in wins (11), opponent batting average (.142) and hits allowed per nine innings (4.39).
In his last appearance, Scott fanned 11 Ave Maria batters, allowing just two hits, as the Gyrenes hit .105
in 19 official at bats. After pitching six scoreless innings, the senior moved to 9-1 on the year with the 5-2 win.
The Warriors:
Webber comes into its single game matchup with Southeastern on its own five-game stretch of victories, all against Sun Conference opponents. The Warriors have won eight of their last nine competitions, averaging 8.9 runs per game during the span.
Zak Spivy contributes a great deal from the mound for the Warriors, as he averages 7.4 innings pitched per appearance (fifth in the NAIA). The Naples, Fla. native has thrown the third-most innings in the country dealing through 81.1 frames. Though the pitcher has a 4-5 record, he has picked up wins in his last two starts, only allowing a single run in each performance.
GAMES 48-50:
#3 Southeastern (44-2, 18-0 TSC) at Florida Memorial (24-15, 13-8 TSC)
Dates: Friday April 13 and Saturday April 14, 2018
Times: Game 1: Fri. @ 3:00 p.m., Games 2-3: Sat. @ 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.
Location: Miami Gardens, Fla.
The Lions:
Florida Memorial has already set the program record for most wins in a season after eclipsing the 20-victory mark earlier this year. With their 15-4 defeat of Keiser on Saturday, the Lions also broke their record for Sun Conference wins in a year with a program-best 13 triumphs.
Junior Sergio Chil leads Florida Memorial with a .433 batting average, 35 RBIs, and 18 multi-hit performances in 2018. His batting average and hits per game (1.53) rank 21
st and 26
th in the country, respectively. The native of Havana hit .450 at ASA College in Miami before coming to FMU.
On the mound, Edgar Arapacio threw an absolute gem against Keiser on Saturday, holding the Seahawks to just .067 batting in 30 batters faced. Arapacio, who ranks third in the nation in opponent batting average (.161) and hits allowed per game (4.96), struck out seven in the appearance.
Game Coverage:
The competition versus Webber will be streamed live at seufire.com/watch, while the series against Florida Memorial can be seen at portal.stretchinternet.com/fmulions. Follow @SEUFireBaseball on Twitter for in-game updates of all contests.
