LAKELAND, Fla. – Down to their final out, the Fire delivered a thrilling finish.
Jon Paul Pennella lifted a fly ball to left field that found open space, scoring John Rossi, capping off a dramatic four-run ninth inning and securing an 11-10 walk-off win for Southeastern University over No. 25 Keiser University on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing 10-7 entering the bottom of the ninth, SEU sparked its comeback with an Alfonso Villalobos double. Two batters later, Peter Tassler drove him in with a single to left. Myles White followed with a walk, and after the second out, David Castillo stepped in with a clutch pinch-hit RBI single. A Keiser error on the play allowed the tying run to score. Then, with the game on the line, Pennella's fly to left found grass, and Rossi raced home to complete the rally and secure the win.
With the victory, Southeastern (36-10, 15-9 Sun Conference) claimed the series, taking three out of four games from the Seahawks (29-12, 12-12).
Charlie Collins led the Fire at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI sac fly. Pennella, Hicks, and Tassler each collected two hits. Pennella added three RBI and a run scored; Hicks delivered two singles and an RBI, while Tassler scored twice and drove in one.
James Strom launched a solo home run, and Villalobos doubled and added a sac fly. Tyler Hinrikus contributed a double, two runs, and an RBI, while Castillo delivered the key ninth-inning pinch-hit single.
On the mound, Cole Jones (3-1) secured the win by throwing the final two scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out one. He lowered his season ERA to 1.37 over 19.2 innings. Hayden Givens-Craig and Tyler Zylstra each added scoreless frames with two strikeouts apiece in relief.
After Keiser jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second, SEU responded with two runs. White reached on an error and scored on a Hinrikus double, followed by a Pennella sacrifice fly. The Seahawks tacked on five more in the fifth to extend the lead to 9-2, but the Fire steadily chipped away.
SEU added a run in the fifth on a Villalobos sac fly, then struck for three more in the sixth on a Pennella bases-loaded walk, a Collins sac fly, and a Hicks RBI single. After a Keiser unearned run in the seventh made it 10-6, Strom brought the Fire within striking distance with a leadoff solo homer in the bottom half.
From there, the stage was set for SEU's walk-off heroics in the ninth.
The Fire will look to carry the momentum into their next Sun Conference series at St. Thomas, beginning Thursday evening with a 6 p.m. first pitch.
