No. 20 Point Park drops Florida opener at No. 1 Southeastern (Fla.) on Friday

LAKELAND, Fla. -- No. 1 Southeastern (Fla.) University made the most of its opportunities in a 9-2 victory over No. 20 Point Park University on Friday. 

The NAIA Top 25 matchup had the Fire (12-2) turn their seven hits into nine runs. Point Park (5-3) was leading, 1-0, going into the bottom of the fourth, but Southeastern scored four in the home half of the frame for the first of five straight scoring innings.

It was the first of five games in Florida during a swing through the Sunshine State this weekend for Point Park. The Pioneers continue to face ranked opponents when they go to No. 12 Webber International (Fla.) for a doubleheader on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.

Southeastern had a lot of its runs come on plays where outs were recorded by Point Park. Some other runs came in via walks and errors with a few key hits mixed in by the Fire.

Point Park used five pitchers to try to hold the SEU offense down. After John Hawley put up three straight zeroes as the Pioneers' starter, he got into trouble in the fourth.

That was a four-run inning for the Fire, although Gary Lora's leadoff homer was the only RBI hit of the frame. Three other runs came in via a bases-loaded walk, an error and during a triple play in which a runner came in between the second and third outs of the sequence.

Southeastern scored single runs in the fifth and sixth on a couple of groundouts. Two runs scored in the seventh with a run-scoring single and a sacrifice fly. The Fire got an unearned run in the eighth as an infield error allowed for the opportunity.

Point Park had gotten as close as 6-2 on Chris Williams' solo home run in the top of the seventh. His second of the year was one of five hits on the day for Point Park.

Southeastern had good pitching with starter Darien Smith striking out 11 and walking just one in 7.0 innings. Bullpen arms Antonio Escano and Jay Schueler pitched the final two innings with no runs, no hits and three combined strikeouts. 

The Southeastern team has been ranked No. 1 the last two-plus years. The Fire has a record of 60-8 since the start of the 2023 season.