Fire Baseball Drops World Series Opener

LEWISTON, Idaho—For the first time, the Southeastern University baseball team lost a game at the NAIA World Series.
The defending national champions allowed three unanswered runs in the final two innings to suffer a 3-2 loss to Sun Conference rival St. Thomas in the first round of play.
In the top of the ninth, the Bobcats (46-13) manufactured a two-out run taking advantage of Jayden Hartle’s lone walk as Daniel Mondejar singled to right field to score the runner from second base.
Felix Dieguez was excellent for 7.1 innings, giving up two runs on a home run in the eighth. The senior didn’t allow a hit until there were two outs in the sixth. He threw 100 pitches, struck out three and walked three.
The Fire (51-11) got on the board first, scoring on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first with Ivan Nunez touching home. Nunez was also stellar defensively, recording five assists, which included a diving, run-saving grab in the fifth.
SEU then made it a 2-0 game on Dan Valerio’s 11th homer of the season in the bottom of the sixth.
Valerio was 2-for-3 and drew a walk.
St. Thomas starting pitcher Orlando Rodriguez struck out 13 SEU hitters, working a complete game on 147 pitches.
Every SEU player that registered a plate appearance except for Noah Strohl struck out at least once. Strohl was 1-for-3 and was hit by a pitch.
The Fire will face the loser of the Lewis-Clark State vs. Freed-Hardeman game on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time.