LAKELAND, Fla.—Just three games separate Southeastern from postseason play as the Fire will play their last three games at Ted A. Broer Stadium of the 2023 season against Thomas on Friday and Saturday.
Southeastern has won its last five games which included a three-game sweep of Florida Memorial last weekend to help wrap up their fourth consecutive Sun Conference regular season title. The pitching staff was dominant against the Lions, holding them to a .089 batting average and posting a team ERA of 0.38 during the series.
JJ Sanchez earned Sun Conference Pitcher of the Week for working four no-hit innings during the staff day on Saturday which saw him strike out 11 of the 14 batters he faced with just one ball put in play.
Over the last 10 games, Southeastern pitchers have held opponents to a .176 batting average against with 115 strikeouts in 82 innings.
At the plate, the Fire slugged .694 hitting 10 home runs in 98 at bats which was highlighted by four consecutive home runs in the bottom of the seventh of the second game.
Adonys Herrera is hitting .424 over the last 10 games and
David Castillo is hitting .474 over his last eight games played with a slugging percentage of 1.053 thanks to a triple and three homers in his last 19 at bats.
Thomas comes into the weekend with a lot to play for and riding the momentum of taking two of three from No. 10 Webber International thanks to a pair of walk-off hits over the weekend. The Night Hawks are currently tied with Florida Memorial at 6-12 in Sun Conference play for the final spot in The Sun Conference Tournament. The Lions hold the tiebreaker having taken two of three from Thomas earlier, but Warner could also sneak in with a sweep of Florida Memorial and a sweep by the Fire.
A one-out triple by Gabe Tafelski scored on Matthew Delay Jr.'s RBI single to give Thomas an 8-7 win in the second game and a Michael Sowers RBI single broke a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the ninth in Game 3 to give the Night Hawks the series.
Delay Jr. leads the team in batting average at .386 and doubles with 12. His 66 hits this season is second-most in The Sun Conference behind
Isaac Nunez.
The Fire have won their last nine games against Thomas having swept their last three weekend series against the Night Hawks. The last time TU knocked off the Fire was in the 2019 Sun Conference Tournament. Thomas has never won a game at Southeastern.
Friday's game will start at 1 p.m. Saturday's doubleheader will be a 12:30 first pitch with the Senior Day ceremony starting at noon.
Tickets are available at
SEUFire.com/tickets.
