LAKELAND, Fla. (April 11, 2018) – The Warriors smacked two home runs in the first inning as the Webber International University baseball team jumped on No. 3 Southeastern University early and ultimately held the Fire off. In the end, Webber defeated Southeastern 10-9 on Wednesday evening at Ted A. Broer Stadium.

Webber (27-16) got off to a great start offensively, scoring seven of its runs on five hits all with one out in the first inning as Chris Medina hit an RBI double, Jesse Coleman had an RBI hit, Alex Rodriguez hit a three-run home run to left field and Cristian Rivera capped it all off with a two-run knock to center.

It was the Warriors' sixth win over a team ranked in the top 20 of the NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll this season.

For Southeastern (44-3), it was the end of a program-record 33-game winning streak. It was also only the third loss of the year for the Fire and was only the second day of the entire season Southeastern had suffered a loss as the Warriors became the first Sun Conference opponent to put out the Fire in 2018.

On the mound for the Warriors was Tanner White (3-0), who picked up the win while pitching six or more innings in a game for the third time in his last four outings. In all, White allowed eight hits and one walk in six innings with the only runs against him coming via a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the third.

In the top of the ninth, Webber scored what would prove to be the winning run as Langston Provitt led off with a single to right, moved to second on a hit by pitch by Manny Rodriguez and then scored on a single to left by Medina.

To save the game and White's win was Coleman, who came into the game after the Warriors let up six runs in the bottom of the ninth inning making the score 10-9 with nobody out. Coleman walked the first batter he faced, but then slammed the door shut with three strikeouts in a row.

"Today was a big win for us," said Head Coach Brad Niethammer. "Tanner [White] threw very well for six innings and we swung the bats well early and took a nice lead. After we lost the momentum, Jesse [Coleman] came in and did a good job closing the door. We now need to be able to carry this momentum into the weekend."

At the dish, Medina, Coleman, Marcus Begg and Rivera each finished with two hits while Coleman and Begg each scored twice, Rivera and A. Rodriguez each had three RBI's and Medina added two RBI's of his own.

It was the second time in less than a week that Webber baseball broke a fellow Sun Conference opponent's program-record winning streak. During the weekend series starting on Friday, April 6, the Warriors snapped Thomas University's program-best 10-game winning streak and eventually finished with a sweep of the Night Hawks.

Next up, Webber will return to Sun Conference action to host another nationally ranked opponent, No. 5, Saint Thomas University. The Warriors and the Bobcats will start the three-game series at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 13, and will then finish it up with a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m. on Saturday, April 14. It will be the seventh and final nationally ranked team Webber squares off against during the 2018 regular season.