LAKELAND, Fla. (March 19, 2021) – The No. 25 nationally-ranked Webber International University baseball team opened up The Sun Conference Series of the Week against No. 2 Southeastern University with a low-scoring 3-1 loss against the Fire on Friday evening inside Ted A. Broer Stadium.

The Warrior pitching staff worked to give Webber a chance to win against one of the top-ranked teams in the NAIA as all of Southeastern's runs came on only one hit, a three-run home run to left field to make it 3-0 in the bottom of the third inning.

From there, Warriors' relief pitcher Xavier Rodriguez came in to pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning and got a swinging strikeout followed by lineout double play to get out of a bases loaded jam with no outs.

Rodriguez then got two more swinging strikeouts to strand two runners on base in the bottom of the fifth inning, and got another lineout double play to end the bottom of the sixth.

Unfortunately, the Webber offense was held to five hits, two of which were by Norberto Navarro, and scored its lone run of the game with an unearned run by Dominique Collie Jr. on an RBI-groundout by Steven Lugo in the top of the sixth.

For the Fire, starting pitcher Drew Gillespie pitched seven innings allowing zero earned runs, only two hits, and four walks while striking out 10. Ryan Munoz then finished off the final two innings allowing three hits and striking out five.

In the top of the ninth inning, Webber did get the tying run into scoring position against Munoz as with one out, Luis Acevedo singled to the shortstop, and then Bryan Eusebio singled up the middle and advanced to second on the throw. Unfortunately, a called strike three followed by a swinging strikeout ended the ballgame.

In addition to Navarro batting 2-for-4, Angel Diaz had the Warriors' remaining hit while Collie Jr. walked three times in the game and had a stolen base.

Rodriguez would finish with five innings pitched allowing three hits and three walks while striking out three, but did his job of keeping the Fire from adding to their lead.

With the loss, Webber dropped to 17-11 overall and 7-3 in The Sun Conference while Southeastern improved to 25-1 and 6-1, and is now 20-0 at home in 2021.

Games two and three of the series between Webber and Southeastern will start at 12 p.m. tomorrow on Saturday, March 20.