LAKELAND, Fla. — No. 8 Southeastern closed out its Sun Conference opening series with an emphatic victory on Saturday morning, defeating Warner 17–4 at Ted A. Broer Stadium to secure a 3–1 series win over the Royals.
The Fire used a balanced offensive attack and a decisive late surge to improve to 19–7 overall and 3–1 in conference play, piling up 15 hits and scoring in five different innings.
Southeastern broke the game open early with a four-run second inning. After loading the bases,
Nathanial Hopkins drove in the first run with an RBI walk before
Armani Cozza followed with an RBI fielder's choice. Aggressive baserunning then helped extend the lead, as
Cort Pryor stole home and Cozza later scored on a balk to push the Fire advantage to 4–0.
The Fire added two more runs in the fourth inning. Cozza delivered an RBI double to center field before
Charlie Collins followed with an RBI single, stretching the lead to 6–0.
Warner responded with three runs in the fifth to cut the deficit to 6–3, highlighted by a two-run double from Danny Garcia. Southeastern answered immediately in the bottom half when Hopkins lifted a sacrifice fly to make it 7–3.
The game was effectively decided in the sixth inning when the Fire erupted for 10 runs. Southeastern sent 14 batters to the plate during the rally, recording eight hits in the frame.
Paul Wittmann and
Braden Bartholomae each drove in runs before
David Flores delivered a two-run single up the middle. Collins later added a two-run single, and
Cooper Ciesielski capped the inning with a three-run home run down the left-field line to extend the lead to 17–3.
Collins led the offensive effort with a perfect 4-for-4 performance and three RBIs. Ciesielski finished with two hits and three RBIs, while Cozza scored three runs and drove in three more. Bartholomae added three hits and an RBI, and Wittmann contributed two hits and a run driven in.
On the mound,
Kai Langford earned the win after striking out six over four innings of work.
Brody McMullen,
Hayden Givens-Craig,
Aron Harrington, and
Parker Lambeth combined in relief to secure the victory as the Fire pitching staff totaled 10 strikeouts.
Warner plated a run in the seventh inning, but the Fire had already built an insurmountable advantage to seal the series-clinching win.
Southeastern will return to Sun Conference play next weekend with a four-game road series against Florida Memorial in Miami Gardens. The series begins Thursday, March 19 at 3 p.m., followed by a doubleheader on Friday at 2 p.m., and the finale on Saturday at 1 p.m.
