Fire Baseball Sweeps Day One in Cajun Collision

STERLINGTON, La.- The No. 3 Southeastern University Fire baseball team went 2-0 in day one of play at the Cajun Collision at the Sterlington Sports Complex. SEU shut out the No. 7 IU-Southeast Grenadiers 3-0 in game one before cruising past the Benedictine College Ravens 11-3 in the second contest.
 
GAME ONE: No. 3 Southeastern 3   No. 7 IU-Southeast 0
 
Junior left-handed Fire starter Robb Adams controlled the game on the mound for SEU, tossing a complete seven-inning game shutout, where he allowed just three hits, walked two, and struck out a season-high 12 batters.
 
Adams set the tone early, striking out five of the first eight Grenadiers he faced. Versus the Arcadia native, IU-Southeast only had the opportunity to bat with runners in scoring position four times and in those four chances the Grenadiers were 0-4 with four strikeouts.
 
The Fire got their offensive support via the long ball, as junior infielder Isaac Nunez launched his third homer of the season, a solo shot in the bottom of the second to put the Fire ahead 1-0.
 
Junior SEU designated hitter Gary Lora doubled the SEU advantage to 2-0 in the bottom of the third via a solo blast that was Lora's fifth dinger of the season. Lora went a perfect 3-3 at the plate versus the Grenadiers.
 
Nunez drove in another insurance run for Southeastern in the bottom of the fourth on an single up the middle that brought Garrett Sheffield across home plate.
 
GAME TWO: No. 3 Southeastern 11   Benedictine 3
 
The Ravens struck first against the Fire with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. However, SEU quickly answered with back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the frame. First, a two-run shot by Brian Fuentes evened things up 2-2. Next up, Lora launched his second homer of the day, a solo shot to put the Fire ahead 3-2.
 
After conceding the two runs in the top of the first, senior Fire right-handed starter Drew Gillespie dialed in to shut down the Raven lineup. Gillespie sat down 11-straight after the second BC run was plated, with six of those outs being strikeouts.
 
The Fire plated three more runs in the bottom of the third, two of which came on a two-RBI double off the bat of Isaac Nunez to open the Fire advantage up to 6-2.
 
Junior outfielder Clayton Keyes launched his first homer of the season in the bottom of the fifth to grow the Fire advantage to 8-2. Senior infielder Enrique Porchas capped off the SEU scoring in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run bomb, his first long ball of the season to earn the Fire an 11-2 lead over the Ravens.
 
The Fire will play two more in Sterlington tomorrow, as Southeastern battles the No. 12 Loyola University (La.) Wolf Pack at 11:30 a.m. and the Lawrence Tech Blue Devils at 2:00 p.m. eastern.