LAKELAND, Fla. — When the breaks fall your way, be ready to catch them.

Gabe Grinder certainly did.

The 2007 Seneca Valley graduate and right fielder on the Raiders' state championship team that season has transformed himself into one of the top closers in NAIA baseball.

"We thought we were getting a solid hitting outfielder," Southeastern (Fla.) University coach Jason Beck said of Grinder. "It's strange how the whole thing worked out."

Grinder went on to Indiana (Pa.) University as an outfielder, "but baseball wasn't clicking for me there," Grinder said. "I thought it was time for a change and started looking around.

"I Googled several Christian schools and came across Southeastern. They had everything I wanted and were very successful in baseball."

Southeastern had won four consecutive National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association baseball championships under Beck, who checked out Grinder's numbers for the Bolivar A's of the New York Collegiate Baseball League last summer.

"He was hitting .400 at the time and I figured we had a steal here," Beck said.

After Beck accepted him into his program, Grinder hit a late-season slump and wound up hitting about .280 last summer.

"I don't know if he had a hit over the final three weeks," Beck said. "We decided to look at him as a part-time pitcher, too."

Grinder did a little bit of pitching in high school, throwing 14 innings for Seneca Valley. He averaged 50 innings per summer with the Seneca Valley Palomino team.

"I originally came to Southeastern figuring on being a fourth outfielder," Grinder said. "By midfall, I was doing a little bit of relief pitching and playing the outfield."

Southeastern's bullpen was growing thin, however. Last year's closer, who set a school record with 10 saves, transferred to another school. A left-hander was to fill the role, but he left school because of family issues.

"Gabe was going to be a setup guy for us at first, then practically won the closer's job by default," Beck admitted.

One problem: Grinder was being bothered by a sore elbow.

He began throwing sidearm to relieve his pain. He felt less stress on his elbow the more he dipped his arm.

And he discovered he could get people out.

Grinder's father, Scott, had become good friends with retired Pittsburgh Pirates closer and submarine pitcher Kent Tekulve through Christian Sports International events. He asked Tekulve to spend some time working with his son and the former hurler obliged.

"He worked with me one day for about 45 minutes and I learned so much from him," Grinder said. "He helped me with the little things, like getting the ball to move, showing me ways to throw harder, how to get the ball to sink and run in on hitters."

A closer was born, and Southeastern was the beneficiary.

Grinder was 2-2 with a 2.81 earned run average, led the nation with 31 appearances and ranked third in NAIA with 14 saves this spring.

He struck out 34 in 32 innings, allowing 26 hits, 13 walks and held opponents to a .213 batting average as a sophomore.

"Gabe has the demeanor to succeed in this role," Beck said. "You have to be mentally tough, have a thick skin, and he does. His ball moves a lot and he'll get better with experience."

Beck is 160-74 in five years at Southeastern. His run of NCCAA championships ended this year with a loss to Toccoa Falls (Ga.) College in the title game.

Grinder will pitch for the Harrisonburg (Va.) Turks in the Valley Baseball League this summer.

"My goal is to go back to school and help this team win as many games as possible," Grinder said.