LAKELAND, Fla.- The No. 18 ranked Southeastern University Fire will head into their last week of the 2022 regular season as they look to clinch the title of Sun Conference Regular Season Champions in a three-game series against receiving votes Webber International.
As of recently, the Fire have strung together a historic 16-game winning streak and collected a 41-7 record and 21-3 SUN record, making them the first Fire team since the 2018 squad to collect 40 wins and putting them at the top of the SUN standings.
Last week, the Fire completed a doubleheader sweep of Florida National University with two run-rule contests, completing the first game with a score of 11-3 in six innings and ending game two in five with a score of 9-1 as well as their sixth SUN sweep with three wins over Keiser University.
The Warriors come into the final week of the regular season with a 34-19 overall record and 16-8 SUN record after a 2-3 week where they dropped both games of a doubleheader to Florida National and took 2-3 against Ave Maria University before dropping the series finale 1-0.
A majority of the success of the Warriors has come from the pitching staff which ranks number six in the nation in shutouts with 16 and eighth in the nation in opponent batting average with a .197. Sophomore Kayla Swinson has been one of the top arms in the Sun Conference and the NAIA this season as her .68 ERA ranks number one in the nation. Swinson has also tossed 10 shutouts and 21 complete games which ranks fourth and fifth nationally.
As a team, the Warriors have posted a .265 batting average with an average of 4.5 runs per contest. Senior Mary-Margaret Maggard has led the way offensively for the Warriors with a .361 average and .615 slugging percentage behind 11 doubles, four triples, and four home runs.
The Fire offense will end the regular season as one of the top offensive and defensive teams as they rank top 10 in both categories. Offensively, the Fire rank third nationally in hits with 467, sixth nationally in runs scored at 339, seventh nationally in RBI's at 293, eighth in the nation in batting average at a .363, and second nationally in stolen bases at 193.
On the mound, the Fire pitching staff also ranks towards the top of the nation with their 17 shutouts ranking second and .194 opponent batting average ranking 7
th. Freshman
Claire Sekinger has aided the Fire pitching staff to their national success as her seven shutouts ranks eighth nationally and her .154 opponent batting average ranks 22
nd. The freshman has collected an 18-2 record with a staff-leading 117.1 innings.
Offensively, the Fire have six of their starting nine hitting above north of .380 with
Jamie Mead leading with a .431 average and .533 on base percentage. Freshman
Riley Sanders has pushed her nation leading stolen base total to 58 while also posting a .428 average in the leadoff spot while
Haleigh Harrell now holds a team leading .630 slugging percentage after posting three triples last week.
With one win in the series against the Warriors, the Fire would clinch the title of Regular Season Champions and a spot in the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round Bracket.
Game one will take place on Friday at 2 p.m. with the doubleheader taking place on Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m.
