(
Tournament Home) FAYETTE, Mo.—Southeastern begins its quest for a fifth-consecutive NAIA Baseball National Tournament Opening Round title tonight as it begins play in the Fayette Bracket at approximately 7 p.m. against the winner of the St. Francis (Ill.) and Madonna game which is starting just before 1 p.m. Eastern Time today.
Central Methodist University serves as the host of the five-team bracket.
The Fire have won 12 consecutive opening round games with the last loss coming in the 2017 Hattiesburg Bracket, losing twice to William Carey on their home field. The Fire swept their way through the 2018 Kingsport Bracket, 2019 Macon Bracket, 2021 Lakeland Bracket, and 2022 Upland Bracket to advance to the Avista-NAIA World Series each of those seasons.
Southeastern enters the opening round with a 52-4 overall record and were the regular season and tournament champions of The Sun Conference. The Fire overcame a five-run deficit in their first game of the tournament against Florida Memorial, winning 6-5 thanks to a three-run ninth highlighted by
Stephen Cullen's sacrifice fly to end the game.
Robb Adams went the distance on the pitcher's mound against St. Thomas in a 6-0 win.
The Fire were then shutout for the first time since 2018 in the semifinal against Webber International, but responded with 54 runs over their next three games to win the title.
Pablo Lanzarote is riding a six-game hit streak with nine hits during the conference tournament with a .450 average. He and Cullen each had 10 RBIs during the tournament.
Gary Lora led the team in average at .517 during the week and total bases with 20, posting three doubles and a triple in his 15 hits.
The pitching staff posted a 1.70 team ERA in six games with 57 strikeouts over 53 innings of work.
This season, Southeastern is 16-3 against the 46-team NAIA National Tournament field with two of the three losses coming to No. 1 seeds Bellevue and Webber International. Two of nine teams in the tournament that the Fire saw this season are joining them in Fayette.
Southeastern was a 12-7 winner over host and third-seeded Central Methodist on February 11
th at the Cajun Collision with
Nick Winkelmeyer and
Isaac Nunez both posting three-hit games.
Darien Smith struck out four in 4.2 innings of work. The Fire run-ruled St. Francis twice, getting a 15-2 win on March 7
th behind three RBI games by Lora,
Jose Marcano, and
Nicholas Block.
David Mata,
Juan Pimentel, and Ryan Eirmann worked 3.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen, allowing just one baserunner.
The Fire had to overcome a four-run first inning deficit to take an 18-8 game on March 10
th. Lora added four RBIs in that contest with three coming on a homer in the fifth to tie the game at five during his four-hit game. Catcher
David Castillo added four hits as well. Pimentel picked up his second win of the season with 1.2 scoreless innings in relief.
Southeastern is 5-0 all-time against Madonna with the last meeting coming in 2020 with the Fire a 16-7 winner at Ted A. Broer Stadium. Kansas Wesleyan is the No. 2 seed in the bracket with a record of 42-13 and were the regular season champions of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.
