LAKELAND, Fla.- The No. 3 Southeastern University baseball team made an impressive statement on 2022 Opening Day, sweeping the RV Columbia International University Rams in the first two games of a weekend series. The Fire took game one by a score of 13-4 before taking the second contest 11-6.
GAME ONE:
The Fire offense erupted for 13 runs on 16 hits. SEU got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning as a sacrifice fly by freshman designated hitter
Gary Lora brought
Abdel Guadalupe home. The Fire tacked on two more in the bottom of the second via RBI singles from senior catcher
Luis Cabrera and Guadalupe to grow their lead over the Rams to 3-0.
Columbia International responded with four unanswered runs, scoring one in the top of the fourth and three in the top of the fifth to take a 4-3 lead over SEU.
Southeastern responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth. First, senior infielder
Brian Fuentes doubled one to left field that scored Guadalupe to knot things back up 4-4. Then, the Fire tacked on two more via a CIU error that put Southeastern back on top 6-4.
The Fire piled on five more runs in the bottom of the sixth to open up the contest 11-4. The big inning was highlighted by two RBI triples off the bats of
Thomas Broyles and
Enrique Porchas.
Lora capped off the victory with a monstrous two-run home run to center field, his first of two long balls on the day.
Senior right-handed pitcher
Drew Gillespie tossed 4.2 innings in a no decision, allowing three earned runs while walking two and striking out five.
SEU sophomore left-handed arm
Alex Munroe earned the winning decision thanks to a stellar relief effort, pitching 4.1 frames of shutout baseball, allowing four hits, one walk, and striking out eight in the appearance.
GAME TWO:
The Fire got to work in the bottom of the first once again, as Fuentes brought Guadalupe home on a sacrifice fly.
Gary Lora belted his second home run of the day later in the frame to propel SEU ahead 2-0.
SEU then laid on five more in the bottom of the third on four hits to go up 7-0. First, Cabrera emptied the bases on a three-RBI double. Following that,
Clayton Keyes ushered Cabrera home on an RBI-double of their own. A bases-loaded walk later in the frame brought Keyes home.
Freshman left-handed pitcher
Robb Adams was phenomenal in his SEU debut outing, striking out eight of the first 13 batters he faced. All in all, Adams allowed just one hit, no runs, one walk, and struck out 10 over five innings of work.
Israel Cordero struck out three of the six he faced to help close the door on the Rams over the last 1.1 innings of action.
DINKEL'S DUGOUT:
"I though the first game and the first five innings of the second game were electric," shared SEU head coach
Adrian Dinkel. "I thought the dugout energy was great and that we did a great job of competing in all phases through a long day."
The Fire look to go for the series sweep tomorrow, as Southeastern hosts Columbia International in the series finale at 12:00 p.m.
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