LAKELAND, Fla.—Southeastern looks to rebound from its first loss of the season with four games this week which includes a trip to the top ranked NCAA Division II program.
The Fire had a team ERA of 4.00 last week against No. 9 Taylor despite holding the Trojans to a .198 average at the plate.
Tommy Davis led the offense last week with six hits and a .500 on-base percentage. Davis has upped his average to .345 on the season.
David Castillo is hitting .474 this season and is coming off a four-hit series against Taylor. Castillo has eight hits in his last five games played.
The week ahead for the Fire has the team in Tampa this evening to take on the University of Tampa at 6 p.m., then hosting No. 20 Point Park on Friday before a doubleheader on Saturday against Southwestern Assemblies of God University.
Tampa is 9-0 on the season and already has five wins against the top 12 in the Division II poll. The Spartans have scored 116 runs on 101 hits in nine games and the pitching staff has a 1.87 ERA in 77 innings of work and has held opposing bats to a .222 average. Returning All-American E.J. Cumbo has a team-best 13 hits with 10 RBIs.
Skylar Gonzalez and Alex Canney have been the top two starters on the hill. Gonzalez has held opponents to a .176 average and Canney, an honorable mention All-American has 12 strikeouts and just one walk in 13 innings.
This is just the fourth meeting all-time between the Fire and the Spartans and first since 2015 when the eighth-ranked Spartans walked off on a dropped fly ball. Tampa has won all three of the previous meetings which have all been at Tampa.
Point Park comes to Lakeland on Friday with a 5-2 record. Its two losses this year came last weekend at second-ranked Georgia Gwinnett 10-0 and 15-4. Jared Campbell and Omar Morillo are both hitting over .400 to start the season and both have slugging percentages north of .700. Ramon Rodriguez has 16 strikeouts in just 10.2 innings of work.
The Fire and Pioneers meet for the fifth time in program history with the Fire 4-0 all-time. SEU swept last year's doubleheader 5-1 and 8-2.
SAGU has won five in a row after a 7-1 loss to Bryan in Sterlington, La. and faces Wiley this afternoon before heading to Webber International on Friday and then will meet the Fire for the first time on Saturday. The Lions sit at 9-4 on the season and are led by the bat of Andrew Ortiz who is hitting .500 with five homers and is 5-for-5 in stolen bases.
After this week, the Fire have just five non-conference games remaining before their first Sun Conference series at Webber International.
Tickets for this weekend's home games can be purchased
here.
