BABSON PARK, Fla. (April 20, 2019) – Behind zero earned runs and the eighth complete game in a row by senior Zak Spivy, the No. 19 Webber International University baseball team defeated nationally-recognized Warner University 8-1 in game one of the Warriors' Senior Day. In game two on Saturday, Webber was held to only one hit and fell 5-0.

In addition to Spivy, it was Senior Day for Marcus Begg, Garrett Martin, Quirino Esquivel, Cristian Rivera, Luis Esteban, Doug Pearl, John Shutrump, Carlos Pino, Josh Navedo, Kevin Snyder, Ricardo Garcia, Joey Cutrone and Luis Besteiro. The seniors were honored with gifts by the coaching staff in between the two games and were accompanied by their families.



In game one, Spivy pitched all nine innings and held the Royals to only five hits while walking one and striking out nine. Spivy improved to 9-4 on the season and now with nine complete game performances on the year overall, he is on pace to lead the NAIA in innings pitched for the second time in two seasons as a Warrior.

After Spivy recorded three straight punch outs to leave a runner on third base in the top of the first inning, he was benefitted by a throw out at the plate by the Warrior defense to end the top of the second inning, and then watched his defense turn a 6-4-3 double play to end the top of the third despite giving up an unearned run.



For the Webber offense, the big difference in the game came in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Warriors put together three walks and three singles to put up five runs and take control of the game at 6-1. Rougie Odor had an RBI-single through the left side, Pino had an RBI-walk, Rivera had an RBI-single to center, and Martin and Norberto Navarro had RBI-groundouts.

Overall, Odor finished 3-for-4 with two runs, an RBI and a stolen base in game one while Rivera was 2-for-3 with two RBI's and a double.



In game two, Warner's Andres Fernandez (8-5) blanked the Warriors and did not give up a hit until a leadoff single up the middle in the bottom of the ninth inning by Mancillas.

Additionally, while only recording one hit, Webber still left more runners on base (8) than Warner did (5) throughout the game as the Royals committed five errors, the same number the Warriors made in game one.



It was the first time all season the Warriors have been shutout in 2019, something that happened to Webber four times in 2018, including most recently in the first game against St. Thomas University during the final day of The Sun Conference Tournament (May 7, 2018), of which the Warriors would end up winning with a 1-0 shutout win of their own one game later.

Three of Warner's five runs in game two, including each of their runs in the second and third innings to go up 2-0, came via sacrifice flies to center field.



"We played well in game one, but couldn't get anything going in game two," said Head Coach Brad Niethammer. "Their guy did a good job keeping us from getting anything going on offense. We just got outplayed in the second game."

With only one game remaining in the regular season, Webber's record moved to 32-18 overall and 13-10 in The Sun Conference while Warner kept its overall record identical to the Warriors at 32-18 and moved to 12-11 in conference play. The Warriors need to win game three of their series with the Royals to be locked into the No. 3 seed for the conference postseason tournament while Warner would fall to fifth place.



Webber and Warner will play that game and finish the regular season with the final game of their conference series at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23.

The Sun Conference Tournament will then follow two weekends later beginning on Friday, May 3, at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Florida.