LAKELAND, Fla.- After winning their third conference series out of a potential three more, the 32-5 (11-1 SUN) Fire baseball team settles in for a nine-game homestand, starting with their fourth conference series of the year against the Ave Maria Gyrenes.
Southeastern is coming off an exciting 3-1 series win against Florida Memorial, topping the series off with a 25-1 victory in the final game. Fire baseball has improved to a team .310 batting average, with seven players hitting above the team average.
Matt Delay is coming off a huge weekend versus the Lions, hitting .600 (9-for-15), as well as team leader in average
Isaac Nunez, who had nine RBIs on the weekend.
The pitching staff continues to impress, currently tied for the best ERA in the country with #2 LSU Shreveport at a 2.86. Southeastern has maintained their top spot in the country in strikeouts and K/9, boasting a national leading 447 strikeouts, equating to a 12.94 K/9.
Looking at the Gyrenes, they come in at fifth in the conference standings with a 15-16 (4-8) record, with one conference series win over Florida Memorial. They come into the week looking to break their three-game losing streak, and will see New College of Florida twice on Tuesday before making the trip to Lakeland to face the Fire.
Ave Maria hits .295 as a unit, and are led by Francesco Barbieri, who leads in average (.380), home runs (12) and stolen bases (17). Barbieri also comes in second on the team in RBIs with 28. Defensively, they post a team 5.84 ERA, striking out 242 in almost as many innings, and an opposing batting average of .260.
The Gyrenes last took a game over the Fire last season, but haven't won a series over Southeastern since 2015. The Fire hold an all-time record of 43-9 versus Ave Maria.
First pitch of the four game series is scheduled for Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
