LAKELAND, Fla. – After taking two of three against No. 25 Webber International over the weekend in their only series last week, the No. 2 Southeastern University baseball team prepares for another series against a ranked opponent. The Fire host No. 19 Freed-Hardeman for a four-game series beginning on Thursday, March 25
th at 6:30 pm with two games on Friday starting at 3:00 pm and is wrapped up with a game at 12:00 on Saturday, March 27
th.
The series against Webber International turned into a pitcher's duel as the Fire tallied their lowest run total over the course of a series all season, outscoring the Warriors 11-8 in three games.
In game one, a three-run homer by
Nick Bottari was all the Fire needed to get the 3-1 win as
Drew Gillespie allowed one unearned run over seven innings of work while striking out ten batters.
Ryan Munoz came in to finish the game and earned his second save of the season while striking out five over two innings.
The Warriors won game two when they hit a two-run double in the ninth to make it 5-3.
Game three saw the Fire jump out to a 4-0 lead, sparked by two RBI's from infielder
Sam Faith.
Bryce Mulcahy got the start and allowed one run in 5.2 innings pitched and struck out seven. DJ Roberts,
Brenden Heiss, and Munoz combined to pitch 3.1 innings in relief and gave up an unearned run and only allowed three base runners while striking out five.
Preseason All-American
Sam Faith has delivered with a team-high .446 batting average and ranks eighth in the NAIA with 38 RBIs.
Bottari upped his season home run total to 13, placing him at third in the NAIA.
Collectively, Southeastern is one of the top offensive teams in the country with third most runs scored (287).
Drew Gillespie remains one of the top pitchers in the nation with an ERA of 0.43. As a team, the Fire have held opponents to a batting average of .204, eighth in the NAIA.
This week the Fire face a Freed-Hardeman team they are familiar with as they beat the Lions to win the 2018 NAIA World Series and faced them again the following year in the World Series, defeating them 10-2 in an elimination game.
The Lions have gotten off to a 14-10 start to their 2021 campaign and are coming off a series win against Georgetown College and have won eight of their last 11 contests. Freed-Hardeman focuses on putting pressure on the defense, ranking 35
th in the NAIA with 46 stolen bases.
Zach Sanders is a key player for the Lions with a team-high .386 batting average and six stolen bases. Josh Sears will be another player to watch as he has hit a team-high seven home runs and 22 RBIs. Sears and Sanders were members of the team the last time they played SEU in the World Series.
Jacob Sawyers is the top arm for the Lions as he enters this week with a team-low 1.29 ERA over 42 innings pitched.
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