Ave Maria, Fla. – On the final day of Gyrene baseball at Bowie's Ballpark, Ave Maria was defeated by St. Thomas University Sunday afternoon by a score of 5-2. The loss left AMU with a final home record of 15-18 at home and they are now 19-30 overall with six games remaining.

GAME RECAP
Through the first five innings of Sunday's matchup between the Gyrenes and Bobcats, the starting pitching was they storyline. AMU southpaw Christian Dufresne and his counterpart Alex Hernandez went back and forth with scoreless innings until the top of the sixth.

In the sixth the Bobcats high powered offense struck first with an RBI double by Eric Santamaria. Later in the inning, Alejandro Oviedo sent a two run homer run over the left field wall to make the score 3-0 in favor of St. Thomas.

The score would remain 3-0 until the bottom of the eighth when Tucker Starkey continued his big weekend at the plate with an infield RBI single to bring the score to 3-1.

St. Thomas was able to expand their lead in the top of the ninth on RBI singles from Jerry Downs and Paul Chacin, bringing the score to 5-1 with three out to go for Ave Maria.

The Gyrenes would try to build a rally in the bottom of the ninth when Aaron Pigna led the inning off with a stand up triple. He was brought to the plate by a sac fly off the bat of Rico Soto but that would be all the offense AMU would find. The final score would stay at 5-2.

Christian Dufresne was charged with the loss for Ave Maria but was backed by a strong relief performance by Austin Comesanas. Alex Hernandez earned the win for St. Thomas.

UP NEXT: The Gyrenes will travel to Lynn University on Wednesday for a midweek matchup with the Fighting Knights in Boca Raton. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. Please check avemariagyrenes.com for all the latest Ave Maria baseball news and updates.

By Sean Buchanan| sean.buchanan@avemria.com