The Fire baseball team started their season off the right way, defending their #1 ranking with a 3-0 series sweep over the Ottawa University Braves, where they outscored Ottawa 30-6 in those three games.
The long ball was the story of the offensive success from the Fire, as they sent seven balls out of the yard in those three games, with
Gary Lora and
Isaac Nunez both having a pair of home runs each.
Josh Smith leads the Fire so far with a .571 average in seven at-bats, with three RBI's. As a team, the Fire are hitting .322 with a .611 slugging percentage.
On the pitching side of things, it was an all-around team effort, with 16 different players seeing time on the mound, led by lights-out performances from
Darien Smith, who threw four innings, allowing no runs with eight strikeouts, and
Robb Adams, who threw three innings with three strikeouts and no runs. The Fire are working with a 1.80 team ERA, and a strikeout to walk ratio of 41-6.
A big trio of wins is exactly what the Fire needed, coming into a week where they will be traveling to Arizona and facing three Top-20 ranked opponents in the second annual East/West Challenge. This is the first time the East/West challenge will make its way to the west coast, with games being hosted by Benedictine University-Mesa, and Arizona Christian University.
The Fire will see a few familiar faces in the East/West challenge, starting with #19-ranked Benedictine University-Mesa (2-0) on Thursday. The Fire played their second game of the year against the Red Hawks, and took the 9-8 win in extra innings. This will be just the second meeting between the two teams in program history.
Friday will see the Fire taking on two teams, starting with World Series rival, the #3 ranked Lewis-Clark State Warriors. Southeastern currently holds the advantage all-time against the Warriors, winning five out of their seven contests. The Fire will look to keep their three-game win streak alive versus the Warriors, their most recent being in the world series just last season. Game two on Friday will be against the 11th ranked Hope International Royals (2-0). This will be the first meeting between the two teams in program history.
Southeastern will close out the 2024 East/West challenge against the Arizona Christian University Firestorm (2-1) on Saturday. The Fire opened their season last year with a 6-4 win against the Firestorm, in their one and only meeting between the two teams.
