LAKELAND, Fla.- With only two weekends left in the regular season, the 36-5 (15-1 SUN) Fire baseball squad will host five games this week, with a chance to clinch the top spot in the Sun Conference by Saturday afternoon.
With just eight games left in Sun Conference play, Southeastern has an opportunity to secure the first place spot with a sweep over St. Thomas this weekend.
David Castillo leads the Fire pack on the offensive side of the ball, hitting a team best .382, after a six-hit, three-RBI weekend against Ave Maria.
Josh Pigozzo, hitting .338 which ranks third best on the team, also had himself a six-hit weekend. The pitching staff still holds the best earned run average in the country, sitting at a 2.87, with the best K/9 in the NAIA at 12.68.
Their week starts early, with a Tuesday midweek game against New College of Florida. Southeastern already saw the Mighty Banyans once earlier this season, where they took care of them in a 17-0 win.
Isaac Nunez and
Chayce Bryant proved essential bats in the game, combining for five hits and eight RBIs. The pitching staff rounded up five of its arms to combine for seven shutout innings while fanning 13. New College currently stands at a record of 13-24, and will look to even up the all time series versus the Fire.
The weekend will begin for the Fire with their last conference series at home, against the St. Thomas University Bobcats. The Bobcats come in at 19-23 (9-7 SUN) and sit third overall in the conference rankings, behind Webber and Southeastern.
St. Thomas comes off of a series split with Warner University, and are led offensively by Kendry Noriega, who hits .338 with seven home runs and 24 RBIs. Luis Rodriguez leads the Bobcats with 12 home runs and 31 RBIs to his name.
On the mound, St. Thomas posts a 5.20 ERA, and has struck out 377 batters over 341 innings of work.
First pitch between the Fire and Bobcats will go down Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
