LAKELAND, Fla.—It only took seven innings for the fourth ranked Fire to take down the Ave Maria Gyrenes 12-2. Southeastern (15-1, 7-0 TSC) pounded out 14 hits, ten of those for extra bases in the winning effort. Catcher
Benito Varela led the Fire offense from ninth spot in the lineup, going a perfect 4-for-4 and four RBI's, using a home run and two doubles.
Varela commented on his offensive outburst after the game, "I was struggling a bit at the beginning of the year, me and the coaches got together and changed something with my stance and worked on my approach. It's been a month since and finally things are starting to show."
Ave Maria got on the board first with a sacrifice fly in the top of the second as
Bryce Mulcahy got the start for the Fire. Outfielder
Carter Bridge answered for the Fire with a two-run double to left field to give his team the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Varela drove him home with a double of his own in the very next at bat.
The bottom of the order provided plenty of offense for Southeastern in this one as
Sam Faith, Bridge, and Varela, the seven, eight, and nine batters, combined to drive in eight runs for the Fire. Head coach
Adrian Dinkel commented on the depth of his lineup, "That's what I like about our lineup. We've got twelve to thirteen guys we feel like we can stick out there offensively and give us a chance to win every single game, and that showed tonight."
With the score at 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth, Southeastern pushed three more runs across the plate via three doubles. This time with
Colton Onstott getting in on the action, lacing a double down the right field line to score
Abdel Guadalupe.
Guadalupe later joined in the RBI action with a two-run homer over the left field wall in the sixth inning, his eighth of the season.
Mulcahy finished his outing after pitching six innings, allowing only four hits and striking out five. He did struggle with his command at times as he plunked four Gyrene batters.
Brayan Garcia struck out two in his lone inning of work.
The Fire are back in action tomorrow with a double header to wrap up this series with Ave Maria. First-pitch times are set for 12:00 pm and 3:00 pm.
