It was a tough battle this afternoon at JetBlue Park for the Fire as they took on the sixth-seeded Ave Maria Gyrenes in a bout to stay in the winner's bracket. Southeastern's relief pitching stayed strong, and the Fire baserunners took advantage of some miscues to claim a 6-4 victory.
The game opened with the Gyrenes getting two on base via hit by pitch and a walk, however, starting pitcher
Darien Smith was able to secure his second strikeout of the inning to retire the top of the first.
Southeastern proceeded to strike first as
Brannon Mondragon who pinch ran for
David Castillo stole home as
Isaac Nunez was caught in the middle of a pickle.
It all remained silent with a few hits scattered throughout the next two and a half innings. The bottom of the third was when the Fire struck hardest.
Tommy Davis kicked it off with a single to third base, advancing to second as the throw was wide of the first base bag. Davis then proceeded to secure third base on a passed ball. A sacrifice fly in the next at bat from
Cristopher Munoz sent Davis home, giving the Fire a 2-0 lead. Munoz had one hit on the contest, with the aforementioned RBI.
A single from Castillo, who again was pinch ran for by Mondragon, and a walk taken by
Isaac Nunez put runners on first and second for
Gary Lora. Lora unloaded a deep shot to left field bouncing off of the wall to score Nunez and Mondragon to give the Fire their 4-0 lead.
The Gyrenes did not give up as Francesco Barbieri went yard down the left field line to give Ave Maria their first run of the contest. The sixth seeded Gyrenes added three more runs in the inning in the form of a balk, and a two-run single from pinch hitter Connor James.
Nick Gottilla replaced Smith after the fourth run was scored, and gathered the last two outs of the inning. The work by the Fire was undone by Gyrenes in a half inning of baseball, the score was 4-4 going into the seventh.
Smith finished the day with six strikeouts over 5.1 innings, allowing five hits and earning four runs.
Davis collected his second and final hit of the game on a double to right field, advancing to third on a wild pitch. Davis went ahead to score a couple of pitches later on another wild pitch putting the Fire ahead 5-4.
The relief pitchers went to work for both sides as
Ramsey David took over after Gottilla completed 1.1 innings with two strikeouts and a walk. David, aside from allowing a hit, performed well, gathering three outs over the next three batters.
Josh Smith was the final run of the game as he placed himself in scoring position with a triple deep into the right field corner, and scored soon after on a wild pitch to push the game to a 6-4 Fire advantage.
Olvis Genao replaced David in the eighth, and
Reece Wissinger got the save, finishing off the final batter. David went on to collect his fourth win of the season.
The Fire with the win stay in the winners bracket and await the loser of today's 6 p.m. match between St. Thomas and Keiser. The Fire's next contest is tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
