SEU Baseball Sweeps FMU to Remain Perfect in Conference Play

LAKELAND, Fla.—The Fire outscored the Florida Memorial Lions 21-4 on the day as the team improved to 39-4 on the season with a doubleheader sweep Saturday afternoon. A 14-3 result in seven innings, as well as a 7-1 outcome in game two, helped Southeastern maintain its unblemished conference record (15-0).
Florida Memorial opened the scoring in game one by scoring a run on an RBI double in the second. The Lions then used two runs in the third to extend the advantage to three; however, the Fire responded.
Southeastern plated 14 unanswered runs, including 10 in a monstrous seventh inning, to defeat FMU by run-rule in the seventh.
The second-best home run hitting team in the nation (1.8 HR per game) utilized the longball to get back into the contest. Abdel Guadalupe launched his team-leading 12th bomb of the season to cut the deficit to just a single run in the fourth. Dan Valerio then notched a solo shot in the fifth to tie the competition before Ivan Nunez hit his 11th dinger of the year to give SEU a 4-3 lead in the sixth.
Six different Fire players then collected RBI hits in the seventh to put the game away. Manuel Mesa, Mike Taylor Jr. and Nunez each added RBIs in the frame, while Noah Strohl and Colton Onstott drove in two runs.
Josh Nelson capped off the victory with a pinch-hit three-run home run to left center, giving the Fire the 11-run triumph. The longball was Nelson’s fifth of the season in just 32 official at bats.
Southeastern, who leads the country in hitting (12.0 hits per contest), had six players with multiple hits. SEU finished with 16 hits in the game, highlighted by Valerio’s 3-4 effort at the plate.
Kyle Wilson (4-0) picked up the win in a relief appearance. The senior threw only two innings, but did not allow a single hit, while striking out three.
In game two, Southeastern immediately jumped on the Lions with four runs in the opening two frames.
Strohl doubled in Dominic Anagnos in the first as the Fire captured a 1-0 lead. In the second, Anagnos singled to right, which scored both Mesa and Adam De La Cruz before Nunez came to the plate. The first of two Nunez doubles in the competition brought around Anagnos as SEU went up 4-0 after two. De La Cruz went 3-4 in the second contest.
Mesa then sent a no-doubter over the left field fence to make it 5-0 in the fourth. The senior became the third SEU player with at least 10 home runs, joining Guadalupe and Nunez with the solo jack.
A couple of heads up plays ended the scoring for Southeastern. In the fourth, Nunez took off on a wild pitch, scoring from third to make it a six-run contest. Anagnos came home on a popup down the first base line in the sixth, tagging on a sacrifice fly to the second baseman. The run was Anagnos’ third scored of the game, while the senior went 2-2.
Keven Long improved his perfect record to 7-0 on the year with the win. Long pitched six innings, gave up four hits, walked three and fanned seven FMU batters.
The No. 1-ranked Fire will now travel to Miami Gardens to battle No. 10 St. Thomas in a series that could determine the conference regular season champion. First pitch of game one of the three-game set is scheduled for Friday night at 6 p.m.