LAKELAND, Fla. - To open Sun Conference play, the USCB baseball team dropped a pair of contests to No, 3 Southeastern, 5-0 and 12-2, on Friday afternoon at Ted A. Broer Stadium. 

INSIDE THE GAME ONE BOX SCORE

Brandon Blume - five innings, 10 hits, four earned runs, one walk, four strikeouts

Tucker Dove - two innings, one hit, no runs, no walks, one strikeout

Jack Wood - one inning, one hit, no runs, no walks, one strikeout

Nick Milhan - 2-for-3, double, single, walk

Jake Tanner - 2-for-3, two singles

HOW GAME ONE HAPPENED

USCB nearly took the early lead in the first, as the Southeastern starting pitcher plunked Brian Meyer to start the contest. Milhan jumped on an early pitch in the at-bat and roped a single up the middle to put two Sand Sharks on base. After a strikeout, Milhan was picked off at first to record the second out. Without a throw, Meyer easily stole third, but the third and final out was recorded via another strikeout to keep the game level at 0-0. 

After leaving two Fire players on base in the bottom of the second, Southeastern cracked the scoreboard thanks to a throwing error. After a throwing error, Thomas Broyles poked a single to take the 1-0 lead for SEU.

After a 1-2-3 top of the third, SEU's bats erupted for four runs off five hits in the home half of the third. Isaac Nunez capped off the scoring for the nationally-ranked team with a two RBI triple to make the contest 5-0. 

After a leadoff double in the top of the fourth, USCB couldn't get him across, as the inning was ended in a double play. 

However, Blume was highly effective in the bottom of the frame, as he faced three batters en route to striking out two. A Fire player was caught stealing by TK Kennedy, which erased a leadoff single. 

Blume carried his fourth-inning success into the fifth, as he faced just four Fire batters again. He allowed a two-out single, but the Sand Shark pitcher forced a flyout to keep the contest at 5-0. 

Dove was the first Sand Shark out of the bullpen for USCB, and he picked up where Blume left off. Dove had some minor traffic in his two innings of work, but he worked around a hit and an error to leave two Fire players left on base in his outing.

In the top of the eighth, USCB had another chance to crack onto the scoreboard with a pair of singles to kick off the inning. Unfortunately, a groundout and two strikeouts followed to keep the deficit at five, 5-0.

After Wood's solid inning of relief, the Sand Sharks went down quietly in the top of the ninth in the 5-0 loss. 

INSIDE THE GAME TWO BOX SCORE

Milhan - 2-for-4, double, single, one run

Kyran Russ - 2-for-4, two singles

Tanner - 1-for-3, single, one RBI

Javier Saenz - 1.2 innings, one hit, no runs, one walk, one strikeout

HOW GAME TWO HAPPENED

Southeastern opened the scoring in the first with a one-out sacrifice fly, as the Fire took the early advantage - 1-0. 

USCB tried to retaliate in the top of the second, as both Russ and Tanner poked singles. Chance Holt even drew a walk with one out to force the bases loaded, but the Fire gobbled up a 5-4-3 double play to get out of the inning unscathed. 

SEU doubled its lead, 2-0, in the bottom of the second, as Nunez touched home via a wild pitch. 

After holding the Fire scoreless in back-to-back innings, SEU took command of the contest in the bottom of the fifth with seven runs. The crooked inning gave SEU the 9-0 lead. 

Despite giving up seven runs the inning before, the Sand Sharks finally broke onto the scoreboard in the top of the sixth with a pair of runs. Milhan touched home thanks to a Fire throwing error, and Meyer scored on Tanner's run-scoring fielder's choice.

Up 9-2, Southeastern matched USCB's two runs with a pair of runs in the same frame. The runs came off a solo home run and a sacrifice fly, which made the game 11-2.

After a very quick seventh inning for both clubs, the Fire finished off the game with a walk-off, bases-loaded walk to seal the win, 12-2. 

TEAM RECORD UPDATES

USCB - 5-9 overall, 0-2 Sun Conference

No. 3 Southeastern - 15-0 overall, 2-0 Sun Conference

WHAT'S NEXT?

USCB and No. 3 Southeastern will conclude the Sun Conference opening set on Saturday, Feb. 19 in Lakeland. First pitch is slated for noon at Ted A. Broer Stadium.