MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (March 16, 2018) – The Webber International University baseball team defeated Florida Memorial University, using a seven-run fifth inning and tacking on what would go on to be the winning run in the seventh inning to come out on top in an 11-10 nail-biter on Friday afternoon at Harry T. Moore Baseball Field.

Webber (16-11 overall, 4-3 in TSC) started a three-game series with a big win over the second-place team in The Sun Conference standings, Florida Memorial (15-8 overall, 7-3 in TSC).

The Warriors started the game off strong offensively with a Manny Rodriguez double to score leadoff man Garret Martin, which was followed by a Chris Medina triple to score M. Rodriguez. Alex Rodriguez would single up the middle to reward Medina's triple to give Webber a 3-0 lead in the first.

Trailing 6-3 going into the fifth inning, M. Rodriguez again would double home Martin. After a Medina single, A. Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly ball to center field to score M. Rodriguez. Quirino Esquivel added a run batted in scoring Medina, then Jesse Coleman came in to score on a throwing error by the Lions' catcher making the score 7-6 Webber.

Mark Martinez would join the action with a two-run single to score Esquivel and Marcus Begg, and then Martin would cap off the inning with an RBI sacrifice fly to left field scoring Cristian Rivera to give the Warriors a seemingly comfortable 10-6 lead.

Adding his third RBI of the day was M. Rodriguez with a sacrifice fly, scoring Rivera in the seventh inning, which would eventually be the game-winning run as the Lions would battle back to give Webber all it could handle. Coleman combined with the Warrior defense to hold FMU off in the final inning with the tying run at first and the winning run at the plate.

Head Coach Brad Niethammer said, "Today was a good win for us. We didn't pitch our best, but we did a good job at the plate with good situational and timely hitting. We will be back at it tomorrow for two more games."

The Warriors will look to win the TSC series tomorrow on Saturday, March 17, against the Lions, finishing with a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m.