BABSON PARK, Fla. (April 24, 2021) – The nationally-recognized Webber International University baseball team concluded its 2021 regular season by splitting its final two games of the series against the University of South Carolina Beaufort on Senior Day on the Heart of Florida Baseball Field. The Warriors won 6-5 in 11 innings in game one, but then fell 7-2 in game two. In the end, the Warriors managed to win their six Sun Conference series of the season in eight tries.

It was Senior Day for 10 players: No.  1 Rougie Odor, No. 11 Matthew Wiseman, No. 12 Norberto Navarro, No. 13 Victor Florentino, No. 23 Orlando Pena, No. 25 Jack Howard, No. 26 Taylor Burns, No. 28 Cale Jones, No. 29 Sean Whalen, and No. 30 Rey Rodriguez.

Game one on Saturday between Webber and USCB came down to extra innings after the Sand Sharks tied it with a run in the top of the ninth inning.  

In the bottom of the 11th inning, Dominique Collie Jr. led off with a walk and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Angel Diaz. The Sand Sharks intentionally walked Bryan Eusebio, but then a passed ball moved the runners up and put the winning run only 90 feet way.

USCB countered with another intentional walk, this time to Luis Acevedo to load the bases, but a clutch sacrifice fly to right field by Steven Lugo was more than enough to score Collie Jr. for the Warriors' second walk off win in two games.

Webber had 11 hits in game one and was led by Norberto Navarro and Rougie Odor, who both finished with two hits and two RBI's.

Starting pitcher Bryce McDonald allowed seven hits, four runs and five walks in his 5.2 innings pitched, and was followed by Praxie Vigil to finish off the sixth inning and then Thomas Lopez Jr. to pitch two innings and bring up a save situation in the top of the ninth for Rey Rodriguez.

Rodriguez (4-1) would go on to finish with three innings pitched allowing one hit, one run, one walk and five strikeouts, and helped the Warriors stay alive before walking it off in the bottom of the 11th.

Just like they did in game one, the Warriors finished with 11 hits in game two, but were done in by two three-run innings for USCB in the top of the third and in the top of the sixth.

Eusebio was 3-for-4 in game number two while Odor was 3-for-5 and Victor Florentino was 2-for-4.

Austin Dreher (4-7) pitched 5.1 innings allowing 10 hits, six total runs, five earned runs, four walks and three strikeouts. Matthew Wiseman allowed one run in his 0.2 innings, and then Kyle Choate pitched two innings of no-hit baseball followed by a hitless top of the ninth by Drake Kasparek.

"First off I want to thank our seniors for everything they have done for our program," said Matt Saliba. "I've enjoyed every single one of them and it's been a pleasure to coach them. I'm proud of our guys for winning this series. Now that the regular season is over, we have to prepare to go down to the conference tournament and give ourselves a chance to make a regional. I've got a lot of confidence in our guys that they will show up in West Palm ready to go."

Webber finished the regular season 28-22 overall and 14-10 in The Sun Conference, reached the 20-win mark at home (20-10) for the eighth season in a row excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and is still receiving votes in the third installment of the NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll as the team with the most most votes of those in the receiving votes category. USCB, meanwhile, fell to 26-19 overall and 11-13 in the conference.

Webber will now set its sights on the 2021 Sun Conference Tournament, which begins in just under two weeks (May 6-9) at the FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Florida.