SEU Baseball Walks Off in Home Opener

LAKELAND, Fla.—When the Fire baseball team needed a big hit in its Sun Conference opener, it needed to look no further than the reigning World Series MVP.
Manuel Mesa’s two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth put the Fire up 4-3, and a bases-loaded single in the ninth by Willie Estrada gave the Fire a 5-4 win over Webber International.
Southeastern (4-2) struggled at the plate through the first seven innings against Warrior starter Zak Spivy, who held SEU scoreless through seven, and had allowed just two hits and two walks and only needed 77 pitches to accomplish this.
“We just needed to find a way to get pitches up and get in our rhythm instead of (Spivy’s),” said coach Adrian Dinkel. “Early, he controlled the pace of the game and fortunately we made some in-box adjustments that paid off.”
Abdel Guadalupe was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the ninth, and Noah Strohl reached on an error. Dominic Anagnos followed with a one-out single to right to load the bases for Estrada, who singled to right to end the game.
Anagnos was the lone player for SEU with more than one hit, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
The Warriors (3-3) took advantage of an SEU error in the top of the ninth to tie the game at four and force the Fire to hit in the bottom half of the inning.
Webber International led 2-0 after the first on a two-run home run to Willie Carter, and picked up an RBI double in the top of the eighth by Carlo Mancillas to go up 3-0 with the Fire down to their last six outs.
The home run was the only hit allowed by SEU starting pitcher Keven Long, who struck out seven over 5.1 innings, but walked eight.
“He battled through and found a way to get us six innings,” said Dinkel of Long. “The walks are uncharacteristic; he’s a guy we put on the mound to throw strikes.”
Marc Soto pitched the final two innings in relief of Kasey Gast, and picked up his first win with the Fire.
The two teams will meet for a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at noon.