JACKSONVILLE, Fla.- The No. 4 Southeastern University baseball team continued to heat up at the plate, as the Fire swept the Edward Waters College Tigers in a Tuesday afternoon doubleheader. The Fire took game one 7-2 before powering their way to a 13-5 victory in the second contest. With the win in the first game, SEU head coach
Adrian Dinkel earned the 400
th victory of his collegiate head coaching career.
"I have 110 losses but we have 400 wins," shared Coach Dinkel. "I am thankful to have had very good coaches and players along the way to help me accomplish that.
GAME ONE:
The duo of seniors
Zach Cornell and
Abdel Guadalupe drove in all seven runs for Southeastern.
Cornell opened things up with consecutive home runs in his first two at-bats. First, the Cartersville, Georgia native blasted a three-run shot to left center to put the Fire ahead 3-0. In his next at-bat, Cornell pummeled a solo homer to the same part of the ballpark to give Southeastern a 4-0 lead in the top of the third.
"Honestly, I was just super comfortable at the plate today and felt totally locked in," remarked Cornell.
Later in the same frame, Guadalupe lifted a solo shot to right field to put SEU up over EWC 5-0.
Cornell and Guadalupe erased two Edward Waters' runs in the bottom of the third with a pair of RBI singles in the top of the fourth to put the Fire ahead 7-2.
Senior right-handed pitcher
Jayden Hartle earned the win for Southeastern after tossing a scoreless inning of relief in the bottom of the fourth, striking out one.
GAME TWO:
The Fire plated 13 runs on 14 hits versus the Tigers.
Guadalupe continued to sing a monster bat, as he was 3-3 at the plate with his second home run of the doubleheader, four RBIs, and was a triple away from the cycle.
The Fire did find themselves in an early deficit to the Tigers, trailing 4-1 after the first two innings of play.
A productive third frame allowed the Fire to even things up.
First, Cornell belted his third home run of the two-game set in his first at-bat to trim the deficit to 4-2. Then, Guadalupe doubled home
Nolan Machibroda to make it a one-run game.
An RBI-single by
Blake Buckman capped off the top of the third for SEU, driving home Guadalupe and tying things up with the Tigers 4-4.
A two-run homer by Guadalupe and a solo long-ball by Buckman grew the SEU advantage to 7-4 in the top of the fifth.
Senior infielder
Pedro Castellano left the yard in the top of the sixth with a two-run no-doubter to right field. Senior infielder
Nick Bottari cleared the bases with a three-RBI pinch-hit double to cap off the scoring for SEU and put the Fire ahead 13-5.
Senior righty Marco Soto earned the win for the Fire after providing two frames of one-hit, shutout baseball.
All in all, 10 different pitchers saw the mound for Southeastern in the doubleheader.
The Fire open up Sun Conference play this weekend in Thomasville, Georgia in a three-game series versus the Thomas University Night Hawks. First pitch of game one is set for Friday at 6:00 p.m. eastern.
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