LAKELAND, Fla. (February 8, 2019) – The No. 18 Webber International University baseball team kicked off its 2019 Sun Conference slate against the defending NAIA National Champion and No. 1-nationally ranked Southeastern University on Friday inside Ted A. Broer Stadium in Lakeland, Florida. In the end of game one of the three-game series, Webber fell 5-4 in walk off fashion in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Warriors jumped on Southeastern from the get go as Norberto Navarro opened the game with a leadoff walk and was followed quickly by Willie Carter, who after making his presence felt in a big way during Webber's first five games of the season, did the same during the Warriors' first conference game by driving a ball deep over the center field wall to put the Warriors ahead 2-0.

It was Carter's fourth home run of the season in six games and only 19 at bats.

Webber then kept the pressure going in the top of the first as Marcus Begg and Carlos Pino both walked to put runners on first and second with no outs. However, Southeastern's starting pitcher, Keven Long, was able to dig down deep and get out of it by picking off Begg at second and striking out the next Warrior before Pino was caught stealing at second base.

From there, the Warriors' starter Zak Spivy (2-1) took over and did what he does best, and that's drive opposing hitters crazy. Only a week after defeating the No. 6 team in the NAIA, St. Thomas University, by pitching eight innings with only two hits, one run and 10 strikeouts to his credit, Spivy was in cruise control during the majority of the game against the No. 1 Fire.

It looked like Spivy was going to finish the game by dominating a top-six team in the NAIA for the second time in the span of one week as he finished the first seven innings allowing only two hits while the Warrior defense turned three double plays.

Spivy's counterpart for Southeastern, Long, allowed only one hit over his 5.1 innings pitched with eight walks and seven strikeouts, and did his job of keeping Southeastern in the game.

In the top of the eighth, the Warriors added another run to go up 3-0 as Begg led off with a single up the middle, Pino followed with a single to right center advancing the pinch runner Quirino Esquivel to third, and then Carlo Mancillas doubled down the left field line to score Esquivel.

Unfortunately, the Warriors would go on to waste a bases loaded with only one out situation, and it would be that along with the 10 walks that the Warriors drew throughout the game but could not convert into enough runs that came back to haunt them.

In the bottom of the eighth, Southeastern finally broke through against Spivy with a two-out bloop single to right to bring in two runs. One batter later, the 2018 Avista NAIA World Series MVP Manuel Mesa stunned the Warriors with a two-run home run to center to give the Fire the 4-3 advantage.

The Warriors, however, battled back just as they have done so many times over the last two seasons as Carter walked with one out and was replaced on the base paths by Garrett Martin, who advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored from second on an error by the Southeastern shortstop on a hard hit off the bat of Begg.

Unfortunately, Spivy started off the bottom of the ninth with a hit by pitch, and then a Warrior error put runners on first and second with one out before the Fire loaded the bases with one out on a single to right. After a lineout to Mancillas at third, Spivy and the Warriors looked like they might force extra innings, but a slow roller off the bat of Southeastern's Willie Estrada just got through the right side of the infield to end the game.

Webber's Head Baseball Coach Brad Niethammer said, "Zak [Spivy] pitched a great game and we played solid defense, but we just came up a little short. It's the type of game you expect out of two good teams."

Webber fell to 3-3 overall and 0-1 in The Sun Conference while Southeastern improved to 4-2 and 1-0.

Games two and three of the series between Webber and Southeastern will start at 12 p.m. tomorrow on Saturday, February 9, as the Warriors look to right the ship against the defending national champions.