Baseball Prepares to Defend SUN Tournament Title

LAKELAND, Fla.- The No. 1 ranked Southeastern University baseball team will head into the Sun Conference Tournament this weekend after clinching the Sun Conference Regular Season title with their 22-2 SUN record and 47-3 overall record.
 
The Fire have spent a majority of the season ranked as the top team in the NAIA and will head into the SUN Tournament as the top seed on Thursday.
 
The Fire will play on Thursday at 11 a.m. in West Palm Beach, Fla. against the No. 6 seed, the University of South Carolina Beaufort. In the regular season, the Fire swept the three-game series against the Sand Sharks with scores of 5-0, 12-2, and 13-8.
 
Southeastern has earned the top spot in the NAIA after ranking first in nearly every offensive and some defensive categories including runs, hits, doubles, home runs, RBI's, walks, total bases, batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. Through a 50 game regular season, the Fire have posted 521 for an average of 10.4 runs per contest, a .367 batting average, .459 on base percentage, .616 slugging percentage, and 92 long balls.
 
The potent offense of the Fire has been led by multiple individuals who rank in the top of the NAIA including Brian Fuentes who leads the NAIA in batting average at a .424 and runs scored at 63 while ranking second nationally in home runs (16), RBI's (70), and slugging percentage (.785). Teammates Gary Lora and Abdel Guadalupe also have posted 16 home runs to tie Fuentes for the second national spot with Lora ranking top three in batting average (.412) and doubles (18).
 
The Fire pitching staff also ranks as the top in the nation with a NAIA leading 2.88 ERA, 11 shutouts, and .237 opponent batting average. The dominating pitching staff has been led by junior college transfer Robb Adams who ranks first nationally in wins with 13, complete games with five, shutouts at four, innings at 90, strikeouts at 107, and earned run average at 1.0.
 
Drew Gillespie and Logan Walters have also been large contributors to the success of the pitching staff with Gillespie recording a 3.39 ERA and 87 strikeouts through 63.2 innings and Walters averaging 16.38 strikeouts per nine innings after sitting down 54 hitters on strikes through 29.3 innings.