Ave Maria, FL -- The Ave Maria University baseball team won a pair of one-run games on Friday afternoon, sweeping a doubleheader from the Indiana University South Bend Titans. The Gyrenes claimed a 4-3 win in the opener before walking off for a 7-6 win in the finale.
 
A pitcher's duel marked the first four innings of the first game of the doubleheader, as the Gyrenes held on to a 4-3 win. Four of the game's seven runs were scored in the final three innings.
 
IU-South Bend got the scoring started on the day, pushing a run across in the top of the first. Brandon Papp hit a one-out single, and was on third with the bases loaded after a walk and a Matt Miller single.
Zack Lazenby put the Titans ahead 1-0 with a sacrifice fly to left field, but AMU starter Andrew Steele was able to escape any further damage.
 
Steele was dominant from there, keeping the Titans off the scoreboard until the seventh inning. Steele allowed just three hits in his final
5.2 frames on the mound, and picked up his third win of the season.
 
Ave Maria took a lead they would not relinquish in the bottom of the second. Andy Hernandez walked and Mason Dinesen hit a high-chopping single to start the inning. Brody Howe then laid a bunt down to move the runners over. Hernandez scored to tie the game on a wild pitch, and Steven Valentine brought Dinesen in with a single up the middle.
 
The Gyrenes extended the lead to three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Again, the first two hitters of the inning reached on a single and a walk, with Howe and Valentine supplying the runners in the fifth. Matt Wiles bunted to put runners on second and third, and Tully Allen followed with a two-run double, giving Ave Maria a 4-1 lead heading to the sixth inning. Allen was the lone Gyrene with two hits in the opener.
 
South Bend threatened in the top of the seventh, but AMU was able to escape with the victory. An error and two singles loaded the bases with two outs, and forced Justin Bureau to come into the game. Chris Mangus singled in two runs for IUSB, but Brandon Papp was thrown out at third to end the ballgame, which gave Bureau his fourth save of the season.
 
In the second game, the Gyrenes scored in each of the final four innings to claim their second walk-off victory in three games, a 7-6 triumph. Andy Hernandez came up with the game-winner, a single over the head of the IUSB left fielder.
 
Neither team scored until the fourth inning, but both teams scored in every inning for the rest of the contest. South Bend started the scoring in the top of the fourth against Gyrene starter Christian Dufresne. A single, a walk, and an error loaded the bases for the Titans, and a fielder's choice allowed Chris Mangus to score the first run. Dufresne was able to get a strikeout and a flyout to keep the deficit at a run and strand three runners.
 
AMU responded with two runs in the bottom half of the frame to take their first lead. Ryan Keegan hit a double that plated Tully Allen, who led off the inning with a single. Ave Maria took a 2-1 lead on a bases loaded walk dealt to Brody Howe. Howe's base on balls plated Jake West, who was running for Rico Soto.
 
The Titans put the leadoff runner on in the fifth, doing so for the fourth time in five innings. That runner, Spencer McCool, singled, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on a single by Chris Mangus. He then scored to tie the contest on a sacrifice fly from Zack Lazenby.
 
Ryan Keegan gave Ave Maria the lead again in the bottom of the fifth, as the infielder belted his seventh home run of the season. His longball gave Ave Maria a 5-2 lead, and scored Matt Wiles and Allen.
 
A stretch of five consecutive singles with two outs allowed IU-South Bend to tie the game again in the top of the sixth inning. The singles by Brandon Papp, Mangus, and Lazenby drove in the three Titan runs, which moved the score to 5-5 entering the bottom of the sixth.
 
Matt Wiles put the Gyrenes back in front in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out RBI single. His hit scored Mason Dinesen, who had led off the inning with a single of his own.
 
IU-South Bend scored once in the top of the seventh against eventual winning pitcher Justin Bureau. An RBI walk to Papp plated the run, after Bureau made an acrobatic play to save a run for the first out.
He forced a flyout with the bases loaded to keep the game tied, giving AMU a chance to win in the seventh.
 
The walk-off heroics were started by Soto, who singled up the middle.
Pinch runner Jake West moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Ryan Cook, and Hernandez sent the Gyrenes home happy with an RBI single that cleared the head of the IUSB left fielder.
 
Ave Maria has now won three games in a row, and will go for a series victory over Indiana South Bend on Saturday. Another doubleheader between the two teams will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday morning at Bowie's Ballpark.