Beaufort, S.C.— On Sunday afternoon, the Ave Maria Gyrenes baseball team played game three of their Sun Conference series with USC- Beaufort and for the third straight game, AMU lost by way of a walk off hit from USCB. The tight contest took ten innings to decide and ended with a 3-2 loss for the Gyrenes. With the loss AMU is now 5-12 in The Sun Conference and 17-24 overall in 2015.

GAME RECAP
Starting pitchers Zach Quayle (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Kutlar Lane (Altamonte Springs, Fla.) were locked in a pitcher's duel for the majority of game three. Quayle delivered yet another quality start for the Gyrenes, going 7.1 innings and allowing just two runs on six hits. Lane kept the Sand Sharks neck and neck with AMU, going 6 innings and allowing two runs on four hits.

Zack Holt (Lake City, S.C.) opened the scoring for USCB in the fourth innings with a ground ball to the right side, scoring Ashly Morris (Savanah, Ga.) to give Beaufort a 1-0 lead.

Ave Maria had an immediate response in the fifth inning, scoring two runs, one off of a sac fly RBI from Sean Trymbiski (Doylestown, Pa.) and the other on an RBI single from Aaron Pigna (Miami, Fla).

The score remained 2-1 in favor of the Gyrenes until the seventh inning when Josh Reinhart (Louisville, Ky.) delivered an RBI single to center, knotting the score at 2-2.

Both teams would threaten in the late innings but neither were able to break through with a go ahead run. The game would be sent to extra innings after both teams had runners on in the ninth.

With two outs and runners on second and third in the bottom of the tenth inning, Johnny Cole (Davie, Fla.) ended the game for USCB, delivering an RBI single down the right field line, scoring John Cloyd (Louisville, Ky).

Reliever Blake Drew (Jacksonboro, S.C.) earned his fifth win of the season for the Sand Sharks while Justin Bureau (Orange, Calif.) took his third loss for the Gyrenes after coming on in relief of Quayle in the eighth inning.

UP NEXT: The Gyrenes will return home on Thursday afternoon for another Sun Conference series as they play host to Thomas University. The three game series will begin on Thursday at Bowie's Ballpark before taking a break on Friday to observe the Good Friday holiday and continuing with a double header on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

Sean Buchanan | sean.buchanan19@avemaria.edu