Ave Maria, FL -- The Ave Maria University baseball team could not maintain an early lead, and fell to the No. 4 team in the nation, the Southeastern Fire,15-7 on Friday afternoon at Bowie's Ballpark.
 
The Gyrenes got off to a picture perfect start by scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Tully Allen reached on an error to start the frame. Following a popout, Rico Soto lifted a pitch from starter Kade Wagner over the left field fence for his fifth home run of the season. The action continued with a two out single from Andy Hernandez, who took second on a wild pitch. Hernandez scored on a single from Mason Dinesen to give Ave a 3-0 lead after one inning.
 
After a scoreless second and third inning, Southeastern struck back with three runs of their own to even the score in the fourth. The Fire put three consecutive runners on via two walks and a Danny Acevedo single. An errant pickoff throw sent two Fire runners across the plate, and Luis Diaz drove in the third run with a sacrifice fly to right field.
 
Southeastern tacked on three more runs in the top of the fifth to claim their first lead of the afternoon. Mike D'Acunti hit a two-run homer after an error by AMU led off the inning, and another error turned into a run when De'John Suber drove in Derek Martin, who had reached on a miscue.
 
The Fire made it eight consecutive runs with a two-spot in the sixth.
D'Acunti and Marcus Guzman drove in the runs with a pair of singles, as Southeastern sent eight hitters to the plate during the frame, which also saw two walks and a hit batsmen.
 
Ave Maria pulled within four runs in the bottom half of the frame, thanks to a sacrifice fly from Steven Valentine, which allowed Dinesen to score. The Gyrenes brought the tying run to the plate, but a double play ended the AMU threat. Dinesen led the Gyrenes with three hits, while Valentine, Andy Hernandez and Matt Wiles added two each. Ave Maria outhit Southeastern 15-13 in the losing effort.
 
Two more runs in the eighth extended Southeastern's lead to six runs.
A throwing error allowed Gerald Ceballos' pinch runner Marcus Stump to score, and Danny Acevedo drove in Martin with an RBI single.
Southeastern added five runs in the top of the ninth to conclude the scoring for the Fire.
 
Rico Soto supplied a sacrifice fly in the ninth, and Andy Hernandez supplied a two-run single to end the game's action.
 
AMU and Southeastern will continue their Sun Conference series on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader at Bowie's Ballpark. The twinbill is scheduled to begin at noon, with the series finale following half an hour after the conclusion of the opener.