Fire Advance to Final, Close In on Fourth Straight Title

Cunha would stand calmly on the mound, set himself, fire the ball to the plate and send Saints hitters to the dugout with their heads down on a consistent basis during the third round of the National Christian College Athletic Association Division II National Tournament in front of about 100 fans at Ted Broer Stadium.

The senior right-hander struck out 13 in seven innings to help the Fire rout the Saints, 12-0, and advance to today's championship game at 1 p.m.

"Jon just dominated from the beginning," Fire head coach Jason Beck said of the South Region Pitcher of the Year. "It's easy when you got a guy on the mound like Jonathan today where you knew he was just going to blow people away."

When Cunha (7-2) wasn't striking Saints out, he kept batters off-balance and allowed only three hits in a complete-game performance.

Cunha's two losses this season came against Embry-Riddle University, which is a Top-25 team in the NAIA Coaches Poll, and Division I Florida Gulf Coast University.

Hillsdale Free Will Baptist will have a shot at revenge against Southeastern today in the final after it eliminated Manhattan Christian, 6-2, later Friday night.

Southeastern, which increased its winning streak to 16 games in the national tournament Friday, only has to win once today to capture its fourth-consecutive NCCAA II national title.

"We're comfortable right now, but we still have to take care of business," said Beck, whose Fire also defeated the Saints in last season's tournament title game.

While Cunha was cruising on the mound Friday, the Fire were busy at the plate. Southeastern scored five of its runs in the second inning with senior Matt Braly delivering a two-run, bases-loaded double. Braly was 2-for-4 on the day.

The Fire (41-23) knocked Saints starter Cody Davis out of the game after 1 1/3 innings. The right-hander allowed three hits, walked one and hit three batters to earn the loss.

"They (Hillsdale) threw a kid that threw hard and for us that's what we kind of liked. We look forward to that all year," Beck said. "We were expecting it (and) guys were pumped up."

Southeastern pounded out 12 hits in the victory and got a solid contribution from Marcos Arias, who went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two stolen bases.

Beck was impressed with Arias, who has been slowed his senior season because of numerous injuries.

"He's our spark plug," Beck said of his leadoff man. "Today he really stayed back and went to the plate with a good approach."Southeastern 151 001 4 - 12 12 0Hillsdale Free Will 000 000 0 - 0 3 1Jon Cunha (W, 7-2) and Edwin McPhee; Cody Davis (L), Richard Waldrop, Jarred Holloway and Joseph Mann. Leading Hitters: SEU - Marcos Arias 2-3, 2 RBIs, 2 SB; Kyle Petrick 1-4, 2 RBIs; Matt Braly 2-4; Dave Moskovits 2-3, 2 runs. HFWB - Jacob Munday 1-2; Ryan Kennedy 1-2. Records: SEU 41-23, HFWB - n/a.[ Tom Zebold can be reached at 863-802-7553 or at tom.zebold@theledger.com ]