The Ave Maria University baseball team scored four runs in the final two innings, claiming a victory in the road opener by a 6-3 score over Eckerd College in Saint Petersburg.
 
The victory broke a four-game losing streak against the Division II Tritons, with the last Gyrene victory coming in 2013.
 
The Gyrenes never trailed in the game, and began the scoring in the top of the second inning. After Ryan Keegan and Andy Hernandez reached on a hit by pitch and a walk, Max Nell drilled a double down the right field line to give AMU a 2-0 lead.
 
The lead held until the seventh inning on the strength of five scoreless innings from Zack Rose and Joseph Bernhard. Rose, who was the Gyrene starter, did not allow a hit over 3.2 innings. Rose and Bernhard allowed runners to advance in scoring position for the Tritons in multiple innings, but were able to escape the situations.
 
The game was evened at two in the seventh on a double from Eckerd's Nick Hill, but Jesse Crosno was able to enduce a flyout to strand the go-ahead run on second base.
 
Ave took the lead for good in the eighth inning. RJ Warnock began the inning with a single, and was followed by a double from Conor Sullivan. Rico Soto stayed red-hot at the plate with a two-run single, giving the Gyrenes a 4-2 lead. Warnock's single was one of two hits for the junior, the only Gyrene with multiple hits. He also stole two bases in the win.
 
Two more runs were plated by Ave Maria in the ninth inning. Leadoff walks by Jack Yvars and Max Nell turned into runs on a throwing error off the bat of Christian Sanchez and a sacrifice fly from Matt Wiles.
 
Despite surrendering a run in the bottom of the ninth on another run batted in from Hill, the Gyrenes claimed their fourth win of the season when Crosno forced a flyout with the tying run on deck. For his efforts out of the bullpen, Crosno picked up the win for the Gyrenes, while Jared Habershaw was charged with the loss.
 
Crosno, who came in during the seventh inning, struck out three hitters in his 2.1 innings of work, allowing the one run on three hits.
 
With a 4-4 record, Ave Maria heads into conference play on Friday for the beginning of a three game series with the Warriors of Webber International University. The series, which features a game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday, will be played Heart of Florida Field in Babson Park.