Fire Baseball Drops First Conference Game

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.—Despite getting a run on the second pitch of the game and having the bases loaded in the first, dropped Friday night’s game at No. 10 St. Thomas, 7-4.
Manuel Mesa took the first pitch of the game down the right field line for a leadoff triple, then scored on a wild pitch to put Southeastern up 1-0. Mesa finished the game 2-for-5.
A walk followed by singles by Ivan Nunez and Noah Strohl gave the Fire bases loaded with nobody out, but Strohl was picked off at first.
St. Thomas starting pitcher Orlando Rodriguez then got a strikeout and a groundout to first base to get out of the inning and limit the damage to one run.
The Fire made it 2-0 on a double by Willie Estrada, scoring Dan Valerio in the second. Valerio was 2-for-3.
The Bobcats answered with three in the third, getting an RBI single, then a two-run double with two outs.
Valerio tied the game at three with a two-out RBI single to center field in the fifth, but the Bobcats answered right back with a two-out RBI single of their own in the bottom half of the inning. They also added three more in the sixth to take a 7-3 lead to the seventh.
Ivan Nunez hit his 12th home run of the season to lead off the seventh, but the Fire only got one more base runner the rest of the game. Nunez led the offense with a 3-for-5 night.
Felix Dieguez took the loss for the first time this season, allowing five earned runs on six hits over five innings with three walks and no strikeouts. Kyle Wilson allowed a run on two hits with three strikeouts and a walk in his three innings in relief.
The teams meet again Saturday at noon for a doubleheader.