LAKELAND, Fla. – After a 45-minute rain delay before the first pitch was thrown, the No. 19 Davenport baseball team's hot bats were cooled off in game one to be handed its first loss of the season 3-1, but the Panthers came back in the nightcap to take an 8-3 win and salvage a split with No. 13 Southeastern Tuesday.
 
The Panthers (6-1) make their longest drive of their spring break tour in Florida with a single, 9-inning matchup with No. 11 Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach Wednesday at 6 p.m.
 
Game 1 – Southeastern 3, Davenport 1
Davenport struck first right off the bat when Cody Greear hit a game-opening double to left field and scored on Brendan Bender's ground out.
 
After the first inning, the Panthers couldn't quite stop the Fire's (11-6) left-hander Cole Yonder (1-2), who retired 13 straight batters. Dre Celestijn broke the southpaw's momentum with a single to right. Davenport couldn't get a runner to second base after the first inning and only finished with four hits.
 
Corbin Clouse (0-1) had the Fire under control until the fourth inning, when Southeastern knocked in four hits, including an RBI triple to jump ahead 3-1 and end the left-hander's night. Ryan Butzer came in and poured some water on the Fire the rest of the way.
 
Game 2 – Davenport 8, Southeastern 3
Davenport had somewhat of a déjà vu moment to start the nightcap. Greear opened the game with a single and Celestijn followed with the same result. Matt Priebe would get the first the first run home with a one-out grounder to third.
 
The Panthers started to run away with the lead in the fourth inning when they drove in four runs including a three-run blast by Celestijn down the left field line.
 
Making his first career start with Davenport, Butzer (1-0) has run into trouble several times in his 3.2 outing, but had a ton of help from the defense. It was only in the fourth inning that two errors and a hit-by-pitch enabled the Fire to drive in two runs.
 
Jonathan Cheshire went the rest of the way and held Southeastern to an unearned run and two hits.
 
Baseball Contact: Rick Hoskin | 616-871-6180 | rhoskin@davenport.edu
DU Athletics: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram
Baseball: Twitter | Facebook