Miami, FL -- The Ave Maria University baseball team moved to 6-1 on the season with a dominant 11-3 victory over Barry University in Miami Shores on Wednesday. The Gyrenes used eight pitchers in the victory, and recorded 14 hits against Buccaneer pitching.
Ave Maria scored the opening run of the game after loading the bases to begin the game. Ryan Keegan drove in that first run with a sacrifice fly to plate Justin Hartshorne, but a double play ball stymied any further offense. Barry also loaded the bases in the first inning, and tied the game at one after a single, a walk, and back to back hit batsmen.
The Gyrenes took the lead for good in the second inning with a four-run frame. An error and two singles again loaded the bases with no outs. This time, Matt Wiles came through with the big hit, a bases-clearing double into left center. Wiles would come home on a Hartshorne double that gave Ave Maria a 5-1 advantage.
An RBI single from Ryan Baldwin pulled Barry within 5-2 in the bottom of the second, but the Gyrenes would allow just one Buccaneer run in the final seven innings.
One run crossed the plate for Ave Maria in both the fourth and fifth innings. Ryan Cook drilled an RBI single to plate Hartshorne in the fourth, and Hartshorne added another RBI single in the top of the fifth, scoring Steven Valentine.
Barry's final run of the game was scored in the bottom of the fifth, when Reuben Pino singled through the left side to bring home Paul Salata.
Four more runs scored for Ave Maria in the final two innings, starting with a three-run eighth. Andy Hernandez, Miles Stevens, and Valentine drove in the runs in the eighth. Hernandez's RBI came on a two-out single, as did Valentine's. Stevens brought the third run of the inning across when he was hit by a pitch. A Rico Soto single, which again allowed Hartshorne to cross the plate, closed the scoring in the top of the ninth.
Valentine led Ave Maria's offense with four hits, scoring two runs and driving in another. Cook added three hits, and Hartshorne reached base five times on a single, a double, and three walks. Wiles' double in the second inning accounted for his team-best three RBIs.
Starting pitcher Zack Rose picked up the victory, pitching the game's first two innings. Ave's most effective reliever of the seven that saw action was CJ Bottiglieri, who worked a hitless, scoreless inning and
Tommy Craparo, Jesse Crosno, Matt Leslie and Justin Bureau each tossed scoreless innings in the victory, and both Leslie and Bureau struck out two hitters in perfect innings. The losing pitcher for Barry was Pablo Arevalo.
Ave Maria returns home to Bowie's Ballpark on Friday afternoon, when the Gyrenes host St. Thomas University for the first of a three-game conference series. The opening pitch of the contest is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
