Fire Shut Down Night Hawks to Remain Undefeated

THOMASVILLE, Ga.— The Southeastern baseball team remained unbeaten on the year, improving to 17-0 (7-0 TSC) with its 9-2 triumph over Thomas University Friday night.
The Fire struggled to bring runners in early in the contest, getting thrown out on three steal attempts in the first two innings. Despite the baserunning issues, Southeastern was able to get on the board first, and would strike in three consecutive frames.
In the top of the second, Dan Valerio crossed the plate on an infield error by the Night Hawks to open the scoring. After Manuel Mesa doubled to lead off the third, Marvin Malone doubled and brought Mesa home. In the fourth, following a single by Ivan Nunez and Keiner Colmenarez reaching on another error, Dominic Anagnos made it 4-0 with a 2-RBI single to left.
Mesa, who went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored, added to his impressive performance, giving the Fire some insurance runs in the sixth. The switch-hitter stepped up to the plate as a lefty and launched a ball over the right field fence for his fourth home run of the season, driving in Anagnos and Nunez and breaking the game wide open.
Malone then scored on a Thomas throwing error to make it 9-0 in the seventh. The transfer from Colby Community College finished the night 3-for-4 with two doubles.
Jonathan Bermudez, commanded the game on the mound for the Fire. Bermudez struck out eight batters, while only allowing two hits through six innings of work to earn his fourth win of the year.
The Fire pitching staff forced TU to leave 11 runners on base, getting out of jams in the fourth, seventh, and eighth innings with Thomas runners in scoring position.
Late in the contest, the Night Hawks got two runs back, but were unable to pose any real threat to SEU’s nine-point lead, as Southeastern captured its 17th straight victory of the season with the 9-2 win.
The Fire will take on Thomas in a doubleheader Saturday afternoon to complete the three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m.