Fire Baseball Sweeps Florida National Behind Stellar Pitching Performances

LAKELAND, Fla. — Eight Southeastern pitchers allowed a total of six hits over 14 innings in a pair of combined shutouts.
The Fire (36-4) came away with a 2-0 win in the first game behind a gem from Kyle Wilson, and saw the bats explode for a 15-0 win in the second game.
Wilson improved to 3-0 on the season, giving up just one hit to the ninth batter he faced, striking out six of the 12 hitters he saw.
Southeastern scored in the bottom of the first on a double steal, with the throw to third sailing into left field, allowing Manuel Mesa to come home. Mesa also scored the second run on an RBI single by Dominic Anagnos in the third.
Marc Soto tossed a pair of scoreless innings in relief, and Heibert Romero earned his third save of the year, working a 1-2-3 seventh.
An eight-run second inning in the second game gave the Fire all it would need and then some to come away with the win. Dan Valerio was the first across the plate on a double and a two-base error, which was immediately followed by Adam De La Cruz’s seventh home run of the season. Mesa drove in two more with a double down the left field line, then ended up stealing home to put the Fire up 5-0. A three-run homer by Josh Nelson capped the scoring.
Four more came across in the fifth on an RBI double by Abdel Guadalupe, a bases-loaded hit by pitch by Thomas Delfel, an RBI fielder’s choice by Anagnos, and an RBI single by Josh Nelson to complete his four-RBI day.
Delfel also added an RBI groundout in the sixth, and Anagnos chipped in a sacrifice fly. In his first career at bat at SEU, Romero took the first pitch he saw through the left side of the infield to score Willie Estrada.
Ivan Nunez finished the game 2-for-2 with two walks and two runs scored.
Nick Ferngren improved to 2-0, tossing three innings of no-hit ball with six strikeouts in 10 batters faced. Ryan Munoz struck out one and walked one in a scoreless inning in relief, as did Alec Thomas in the sixth. Bryce Fraser allowed one hit, and struck out two in the fifth, and Kasey Gast pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh.
The Fire open a three-game Sun Conference series on Friday at 6:30 p.m. against Florida Memorial.