LAKELAND, Fla.—Efficiency at the dish was the name of the game for Southeastern in its doubleheader against Saint Joseph.
The Fire scored 23 runs on 26 hits to win both games of Saturday’s non-conference doubleheader by the scores of 9-0 and 14-2.
Jonathan Bermudez helped things on the mound for the home team, striking out 13 of the 19 batters he faced, throwing five shutout innings to improve to 8-0 on the season.
A third of the runs scored in the first contest came from the bat of Nick Bottari, who hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third to right field, and a two run shot to center in the fourth, which gave SEU its final runs of the game.
Bottari finished 2-for-2 with a walk and three runs scored. He now has 10 home runs on the season, which ties him for the second most in the NAIA.
Vince Volpatti was a major contributor in both games, giving the Fire a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first with an RBI single up the middle, and took the advantage to five in the bottom of the third with an RBI single.
The Livermore, Calif. native was 2-for-3 with two RBIs in the first game, and put together a 4-for-5 effort with four RBIs and four runs scored in the second game, which included his second homer of the season, a three-run shot to center in the bottom of the sixth to give SEU its final runs.
College of Saint Joseph held a 2-1 lead after two and a half innings, taking advantage of an error with the bases loaded, and an RBI single. The Fire answered right back in the bottom of the third with a two-run double by Ivan Nunez to start a four-run inning. Adam De La Cruz brought in Nunez with a sacrifice fly, and Keiner Colmenarez brought in the fourth run with a single to right, scoring Kainalu Pitoy.
Southeastern plated five more in the fourth, getting another two-run double from Nunez, a Dan Valerio RBI double, and an RBI single by Volpatti.
Eddie Jimenez improved to 2-0 on the season, working the first three innings of the staff day, striking out two, and coaxing four groundouts. Heibert Romero, Nick Moisant, Chase Dreger, and Preston Szuch each threw a scoreless inning in relief. Romero, Dreger, and Szuch each had two strikeouts.
The Fire return to Sun Conference play on Friday, hosting Warner for a three-game series.
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