LAKELAND, Fla. - The Royals traveled to Lakeland on Friday to restart SUN Conference play with a double-header against #8 Southeastern University. After falling in game 1 by a score of 7-to-3, the Royals were able to come away with the upset win in a pitcher's duel that finished 2-to-1 in favor of Warner.
Game 1: Royals Fall 7-3
Warner and Southeastern had a quiet opening few Innings, but the Fire's bats came alive in the 3rd and 4th Innings scoring a total of 5 runs in those 2 Innings. The Royals were able to get on the board in the 7th when
Raul Olivera singled into center field to drive home
JD Swarbrick for Warner's 1st run of the game. Swarbrick was able to get an RBI of his own when he hit a single through the right side of the infield to bring in
Jhenzel Figueroa to cut the Fire lead to 3. SEU answered back in the 8th Inning, scoring 2 more runs to extend their lead before entering the final Inning of the game. The Royals drove in 1 more run in the 9th when TImothy Dunn hit an RBI single to left field that saw Olivera scoring Warner's 3rd run of the game. Warner was able to complete the comeback in the 9th and would fall 7-to-3.
Warner Stat Leaders - Game 1
The Royals spread out their offensive stats in game 1 of Friday's double-header as 3 different Royals recorded 2 hits each and 3 Royals each drove in 1 run.
Trenton Chenard lead the Royals pitching staff with 3 strikeouts.
Game 2: Royals Win 2-1
The Royals offense came out strong in game 2 with a lead off double for Figueroa on the first pitch of the game.
Danny Garcia followed that up with a single before
Gabriel Rodriguez drove in Figueroa on an RBI single to left field to give Warner an early 1-0 lead.
Easton Nunez had an incredible outing for the Royals on the mound pitching 7 of the 8 Innings while allowing only 1 unearned run in the 6th inning. Nunez kept the Fire offense quiet throughout Friday afternoon's game allowing only 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6 to earn his 3rd win of the season. After the Fire were able to tie the game at 1 in the 6th Inning, both team's managed to shut one another out in the 7th Inning to force extras. It only took the Royals 1 extra Inning to get the win as
JD Swarbrick drove in
Danny Garcia in the top of the 8th to score the winning run.
Austin Vakiener then came in in the bottom of the 8th to close out the win, shutting out the Fire offense and allowing only 1 hit to earn his first save of the season as the Royals earned the 2-to-1 upset win.
The Royals will look to continue to build on their upset win tomorrow when they take on #8 Southeastern for game 3 of the 4 game series.
Warner Stat Leaders - Game 2
Hits: Jhenzel Figueroa &
Gabriel Rodriguez (2)
RBIs: Gabriel Rodriguez &
JD Swarbrick (1)
Ks: Easton Nunez (6)
Up Next:
The Royals will continue their SUN Conference Series tomorrow when they take on
#8 Southeastern University at Noon
#GodBlessGoRoyals | #TogetherAsOne
