Baseball Receives Balanced Offensive Effort in Doubleheader Sweep of Florida National

LAKELAND, Fla.- The No. 1 Southeastern University baseball team swept a non-conference doubleheader versus the Florida National University Conquistadors on Friday evening at Ted A. Broer Stadium. The Fire took the first contest 10-0 before cementing the sweep with a 9-4 victory in game two.
 
 
GAME ONE:
 
 
SEU jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead over FNU in the bottom of the first, when junior infielder Sam Faith blasted a grand-slam home run to center field, his sixth homer of the season.
 
 
Back-to-back sacrifice flies by Enrique Porchas and Shamir Morales in the bottom of the fourth tacked on two more for the Fire. A solo home run by senior outfielder Anthony Carrera later in the inning pushed the Fire ahead 7-0.
 
 
Junior right-handed pitcher Zach Rice battled on the mound in the start for Southeastern, posting five shutout innings where he allowed three hits, walked three, and struck out five. Rice improved to 3-0 with the win.
 
 
The Fire enjoyed back-to-back homers in the bottom of the sixth, as graduate infielder Blake Buckman launched a two-run pinch-hit dinger to left field, his first home run of the season. In the next at-bat, senior infielder Pedro Castellano blasted his first of two homers on the day, a solo shot that put SEU ahead of FNU 10-0.
 
 
Junior left-handed pitcher Bailey Roberson closed out the contest with two innings of shutout baseball on the mound for the Fire, striking out one.
 
 
GAME TWO:
 
 
After being knotted up 1-1 heading to the bottom of the third, Castellano launched his second homer of the day, a two-run shot to left-center. The Davenport native has now homered in four-consecutive games.
 
 
 
The Fire got another two-run homer later in the frame, when junior first baseman Luis Cabrera left the yard for the first time this season to put the Fire ahead of the Conquistadors 5-1.

 
FNU was able to cut the deficit to 6-4 in the top of the fifth. However, the Fire tacked on three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a sac fly from Thomas Broyles, and an RBI-double by Faith.
 
 
Carrera was a perfect 3-3 in game two of the doubleheader, going 4-7 with three runs scored in the leadoff position for the Fire between the two games.
 
 
Sophomore righty Damien Torres earned his first career win for Southeaster, striking out six hitters over 4.1 innings of work.
 
The duo of senior lefty Ryan Munoz and junior righty Jackson Sloan closed out the game for SEU, logging 2.2 innings of shutout relief collectively.
 
 
The Fire are back in action at home tomorrow, as they host the Spring Arbor University Cougars in a single nine-inning contest at 12:00 p.m.