LAKELAND, Fla. — Top-seeded Southeastern saw its run through the winner's bracket halted Tuesday evening as British Columbia used an early power surge and a late offensive explosion to defeat the Fire 11-1 in eight innings in the semifinal round of the NAIA Opening Round Lakeland Bracket.
The loss drops Southeastern to 40-16 overall and sends the Fire into the elimination semifinal on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. against No. 2 seed Milligan. The winner of that matchup advances to face British Columbia in the Opening Round Final at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening, with an if-necessary game scheduled for Thursday at noon.
British Columbia struck immediately against SEU starter
Austin Peddycoart, using a three-run homer from David Krahn in the bottom of the first inning to grab control early. Krahn added another solo homer in the third as UBC built a 4-0 lead through three innings.
Southeastern had opportunities to answer throughout the night but struggled to capitalize. The Fire stranded runners in scoring position in both the first and fourth innings after putting together multi-hit frames. SEU finished with eight hits but left nine runners on base.
Cooper Ciesielski paced the offense with a 2-for-4 performance, while
Paul Wittmann also recorded two hits and scored the Fire's lone run.
Nathanial Hopkins delivered SEU's only RBI with a sixth-inning double to right center that plated Wittmann and trimmed the deficit to 5-1.
Peddycoart battled through 5.1 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits while striking out four.
Grant Trentmann provided solid relief work in the middle innings, recording two strikeouts over 1.2 scoreless innings to keep the Fire within reach entering the late frames.
UBC finally broke the game open in the bottom of the eighth. After a pair of wild pitches moved runners into scoring position, Braeden Scott lined a two-run single before Josh Cote followed with a three-run homer to left field to end the contest via run rule.
Krahn finished 3-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs for the Thunderbirds, while Cote added a three-run homer and three RBIs of his own as British Columbia totaled 14 hits on the night.
Southeastern now turns its attention to Wednesday's elimination semifinal against Milligan, needing three consecutive wins to advance out of the Lakeland Bracket and secure the program's eighth straight trip to the NAIA World Series.
