LAKELAND, Fla. – The No. 1 Southeastern University baseball team continued to roll in non-conference play, sweeping the Olivet Nazarene University Tigers in seven-inning doubleheader action. The Fire cruised to a 10-0 lead in game one before cementing the sweep with a 6-1 victory in the second game. Southeastern improved to 21-3 on the season and has now won six-straight contests.
GAME ONE:
The Fire plated 10 runs on 11 hits, while surrendering just three base knocks to the Tigers in the opening contest.
In the first SEU at-bat of the game, senior outfielder
Manuel Mesa belted his sixth homer of the season, a solo shot that put the Fire ahead 1-0. The Fire went on to plate three more in the bottom of the first, thanks to three-straight RBI doubles by
Colton Onstott,
Abdel Guadalupe, and
Dan Valerio to take a 4-0 lead after one inning of play.
Guadalupe went on to have a monster day at the plate, belting a solo and two-run home run later in the contest to go 3-3 at the plate with four runs batted in. Guadalupe leads SEU in long balls with eight on the season.
Senior left-handed pitcher
Austin Covers tossed six innings of shutout baseball, striking out seven Tigers to improve to 3-0 on the season.
In his first varsity appearance for Southeaster, junior Peter Defee Jr. struck out two of the three Tigers he faced in the top of the seventh to close things out.
GAME TWO:
The Fire plated exactly one run in four of their first five innings of play to gradually grow a 4-1 lead over the Tigers through five.
After ONU tied things up 1-1 in the top of the second, the Fire immediately answered off the bat of senior infielder
Adam De La Cruz, who demolished a solo home run to left center to regain the lead for Southeastern 2-1.
Junior lefty
Colton Tison went the distance for SEU, tossing a complete game with six strikeouts to earn his first win of the season.
The Fire take on Aquinas and Viterbo in a two-game set tomorrow afternoon. Game times are set for 3:00 and 6:30 p.m.
