Gyrenes Stop Kid, Take One Of Two From Siena Heights

Ave Maria, FLA.—Monday afternoon, the Ave Maria University played host to Siena Heights University for a double header at Bowie's Ballpark. The Saints made the trip down to southwest Florida to open their 2015 season with AMU. The mid-day twin bill was the beginning of a long stretch of baseball for the Gyrenes, as the two games were the first of seventeen in the next thirteen days.

GAME 1 RECAP
Game one was a pitcher's duel that went down to the wire with a little bit of offensive pop in the middle innings.

Zach Quayle (Knoxville, Tenn.) got the start for the Gyrenes and the senior southpaw gave him team a quality outing. Quayle went six innings and allowed only three runs on four hits while striking out five.

His Siena Heights counterpart, Thomas McCarter (Lapeer, Mich.), also gave his team a shot by going five innings and allowing three runs.

Trailing 2-0 in the bottoms of the fourth, the Gyrenes power bats returned as Rico Soto (Naples, Fla.) smashed a solo home run over the left field fence. Fellow freshman Ryan Keegan (Estero, Fla.) followed up Soto with a home run of his own in the same inning, sending a two run shot over the wall to give the Gyrenes the lead.

In the sixth, Siena Heights would manage to tie the game at three a piece but again Ave Maria would answer. Ryan Keegan came up big again for the Gyrenes, sending a single through the left side of the infield to score Aaron Pigna (Miami, Fla).

With a 4-3 heading into the bottom of the final inning, Justin Bureau (Orange, Calif.) came on to close the game out. The freshman slammed the door on the Saints, striking out two of the three batters he faced on the way to his first career save and an Ave Maria victory.

GAME 2 RECAP
Game two would prove to be a shootout between the Saints and the Gyrenes.

Siena Heights jumped out to a big lead early, scoring four runs in each of the first two frames for an 8-0 lead. Joe Williams (Westland, Mich.) did much of the damage himself, driving in five RBIs over the course of the game.

The Gyrenes tried to climb back into the game late but would fall short. The final score of game two would end at 15-9 in favor of Siena Heights.

Freshman Andy Herenandez (Miami, Fla.) was the top offensive performer for the blue and green with two hits three RBIs in game two.

UP NEXT: Ave Maria continues their busy week tomorrow as Marygrove University comes to town for a Tuesday double header beginning at 12 p.m. at Bowie's Ballpark. You can follow all the action live at avemariagyrenes.com or on twitter by following @gyrenes.

By: Sean Buchanan | sean.buchanan@avemria.edu