Babson Park, FL – The 12th ranked Webber International Baseball team outslugged Southeastern for a 10-9 win on Saturday afternoon in Babson Park, answering an early run from the Fire and holding off several late pushes to secure the series finale. The Warriors piled up 10 runs on 12 hits, while Southeastern finished with nine runs on 12 hits in a back-and-forth Sun Conference battle. With the win, the Warriors split the SUN Conference series with Southeastern 2-2. Before the game, Webber honored their seniors with a Senior Day presentation.
After Southeastern struck for a run in the top of the first, Webber answered immediately with its biggest inning of the night. Keegan Martin started the rally, and the Warriors quickly loaded the bases before Jalen Martinez tied the game with an RBI single. Mike Cuello lifted a sacrifice fly to right to bring home Tugg Hollandsworth, and Will Gisriel then delivered the knockout blow of the frame with a three-run homer, scoring Martinez and Ty Mathews as Webber surged in front 5-1 after one inning.
Southeastern chipped away with three runs in the second to cut the deficit to one, but Webber kept responding. The Warriors added a run in the third and another in the fourth, then pushed across two more in the fifth to stay in front. Webber's offense was fueled by timely at-bats and aggressive baserunning, with the Warriors drawing six walks and swiping two bases while forcing the Fire pitching staff to work through 44 batters.
Gisriel and Steven Nitch both homered for Webber, helping pace a balanced attack that produced 12 hits.. The Warriors got RBI production throughout the lineup, Gisriel driving in four, Martinez with two, Austen Jaslove, Matthews, Cuello, and Nitch all adding one. Gisriel had the final blow for the Warriors as his RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning put the Warriors ahead 10-9 to Zach Hessler finished the game off to secure the victory and the conference series split.
On the mound, the Warriors had to piece the game together after a rough start from Trevor Carter. Tyler Helton, Gregory Bori, and Griffin Catto all contributed as Webber's bullpen worked through traffic to give Hessler the ball with a tie game. Despite Southeastern's nine stolen bases and repeated threats, the Warriors made the key pitches and defensive plays they needed over the final innings to finish off the 10-9 victory.
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