Lakeland, Fla. – For the sixth consecutive season, the No. 4 Southeastern University baseball team is set to compete in The Sun Conference Tournament. For the first time since the tournament returned in 2009, the competition will not be played at the City of Palms Park in Ft. Myers. Keiser University will host the tournament at the brand-new FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, spring training home to the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals. SEU is 13-7 all-time in the conference tourney and has won at least one game in every appearance. The defending tournament champions are looking to clinch the program's fourth ever berth in the NAIA World Series Opening Round. The second-seeded Fire are first tasked with facing fifth-seeded Webber International.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:
Friday, May 4, 2018
11 am Game 1: #1 St Thomas vs #6 Thomas
2:30 pm Game 2: #2 Southeastern vs #5 Webber Int.
6 pm Game 3: #3 Florida Memorial vs #4 Keiser
Saturday, May 5, 2018
11 am Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 2
2:30 pm Game 5: Winner Game 1 vs Loser Game 3
6 pm Game 6: Winner Game 2 vs Winner Game 3
Sunday, May 6, 2018
11 am Game 7: Winner Game 5 vs Winner Game 6
2:30 pm Game 8: Loser Game 6 vs Winner Game 4
6 pm Game 9: Loser Game 7 vs Winner Game 8
Monday, May 7, 2018
11am Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs Winner Game 9
2:30pm Game 11: (if necessary) Winner Game 10 vs Loser Game 10
COVERAGE: Watch/Live Stats
FIRE POWER: Southeastern is the only team in the TSC tourney field, as well as just one of two teams in the NAIA, that had four players with 10 or more home runs on the season. One of those bats is junior outfielder
Marvin Malone, who leads the squad with 16 long balls on the season, nine of which have occurred in league play. In his last 10 games, Malone is averaging a long ball per 4.7 at-bats. Another one of the SEU power hitters is junior utility man
Dan Valerio. The Tinton Falls, N.J. native rewrote the program record books in the regular season finale versus Edward Waters, knocking in his 75
th RBI of the season, a new single-season record. After failing to get aboard in the TSC opener versus Webber, Valerio has now reached safely in 23 consecutive Sun Conference contests.
STRIKING FIRE: The Fire are the only team in all of four-year college baseball to record over 500 strikeouts this season with 541. They also feature a staff which averages 6.2 innings per nine-inning game start and has tossed two no-hitters this season. Junior southpaw
Jonathan Bermudez anchors the SEU pitching staff. At 12-1, Bermudez is one win shy of tying the program record in single-season wins. He averaged a strikeout per 2.7 at-bats in TSC play this season and conference opponents hit just .156 against him. Senior righty
Jordan Scott was the only SEU starting pitcher to finish conference regular season play undefeated (8-0), holding wins over the entire tournament field. Scott is averaging 8.8 punch outs over his last five starts.
THE FIELD:
| Team |
BA |
SLG |
HR |
SB |
ERA |
Ks |
SV |
| #1 STU |
.370 |
.584 |
67 |
92 |
3.47 |
472 |
13 |
| #2 SEU |
.330 |
.558 |
87 |
153 |
3.22 |
541 |
13 |
| #3 FMU |
.302 |
.405 |
19 |
60 |
5.44 |
311 |
5 |
| #4 KU |
.328 |
.496 |
54 |
48 |
4.24 |
362 |
13 |
| #5 WIU |
.275 |
.413 |
35 |
121 |
3.97 |
389 |
9 |
| #6 TU |
.300 |
.427 |
36 |
74 |
4.89 |
282 |
8 |
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