BRISTOL, Tenn. – Southern Wesleyan scored six times in the first and Julio Lara smacked two home runs but it wasn't enough in the series finale against King (Tenn.), falling to the Tornado 14-13 in a wild affair.

The Warriors jumped on King early, scoring six times in the first as SWU collected five hits. The first two reached on base hits before Lara loaded the bases after reaching on an error. The next five batters knocked in a run as Dan Williams and Daniel Coleman singled, Johnny Ponder was hit by a pitch and Matt Costa reached on a fielder's choice. The final blow came off the bat of Zach Mondoux, knocking a two-run double to right center.

SWU maintained the lead until the seventh when King tied the game at 13-13 on a sac fly off of Roth Matthews. A leadoff double by Tyler Raymond came back to haunt the Warriors as Ryan Whitt knocked him in on a sac fly in foul territory to right. The Tornado took the lead in the eighth on a double by Derrick Moore after Jake Portugal was hit by Jordan Finster to start the inning.

After scoring the six runs in the first, King answered with three in the bottom of the inning. They added another to close to within 6-4 in the third before the Warriors put up three in the fourth on Lara's first home run of the game, a three-run bomb to left that also scored Mike Hyman and Drew Carson.

The Warriors scored four times in the fifth as Lara hit a two-run homer but King seemed to always stay close, scoring four in the fourth and three in the fifth. King added single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

Both teams collected 15 hits in the contest as Lara and Hyman each had three for the Warriors. They also both scored three runs apiece. Lara collected five RBIs. Both Justin Brew and Drew Carson had two hits in the second spot as Brew pinch hit and stayed in the game in the fifth. Brew doubled in his first at-bat to knock in a run and later scored on Lara's homer. Carson scored twice in the game.

Jordan Finster suffered his first loss of the season after giving up the winning run in the eighth inning. Nathan Helke pitched two scoreless innings for King to improve to 2-1.

The Warriros will head to Anderson on Monday for their final road game of the season. The home finale is scheduled for Wednesday against Truett-McConnell at 6 p.m.