LAKELAND, Fla. – The Fire have been on the wrong end in some close games of late, but not tonight. In the biggest series of the season to date, Southeastern University got just enough on offense and held No. 7 Webber International scoreless in the last four innings to take game one of the four-game set, 3-2.
Trailing 1-0 in the third, Myles White walked and John Rossi was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Jon Paul Pennella moved both runners up with a ground out to first base. After an out, Connor Hicks lined a two-run single to right field to give the Fire the lead, 2-1.
In the next inning, Alfonso Villalobos and Peter Tassler singled and stood on second and third with one out. White then stepped to the plate and lofted the sac fly to bring Villalobos home, giving the Fire a 3-1 lead and all the runs they would end up needing on the night.
The Warriors pulled within a run on an error in the fifth, but Reece Wissinger was stellar all night before the duo of Micah Earwood and Cole Jones kept the Warriors off the scoreboard to give Wissinger his sixth victory of the year. Wissinger scattered six hits over seven innings, giving up just one earned run while walking one and striking out nine. Earwood pitched the eight and gave up a hit with a strikeout before Jones came in an shut the door, striking out two in a perfect ninth.
In the top of the ninth, the Fire loaded the bases on a walk, hit-by-pitch, and en error, but Webber's Jacob Hardy worked out of the jam, inducing a double play to end the threat without giving up a run. The escape gave the Warriors hope in the ninth, but Cole Jones came in and struck out the first two batters before inducing a pop out to end it.
With the win, the Fire improve to 24-3 (3-2 SUN) on the season while Webber drops to 21-6 (2-3 SUN).
The two teams take the field today for games two and three of the series, with first pitch of game one slated for 2 p.m.
