St. Petersburg, FL -- The Ave Maria University baseball team suffered a 4-2 defeat to the Eckerd College Tritons on Wednesday night in St. Petersburg. It was the second midweek meeting of the season between the Gyrenes and the Tritons.
 
Eckerd scored the first run of the contest in the the game's opening inning. Leadoff hitter Sam Cochrane was hit by a pitch from starter Sergio Miyares, and subsequently stole second and took third on a Nick Conti single. Cochrane scored on a double play turned by the Gyrenes off the bat of Mitch Calandra.
 
The Gyrenes struck for two runs in the top of the fourth, taking a 2-1 lead. Ryan Cook and Rico Soto drew consecutive walks, leading to a double from Ryan Keegan that scored Cook from second. Soto, who advanced to third on the Keegan double, then came across the plate on an RBI groundout to short by Andy Hernandez.
 
A run in the bottom of the fifth tied the game for Eckerd. Matthew Miller drew a one-out walk, and came around to score the tying run on back-to-back singles from Cochrane and Conti.
 
The Tritons took the lead for good with two runs in the sixth. Two Eckerd hitters reached, and runners stood on first and second with two outs. Miller gave Eckerd the lead with an RBI single, and a wild pitch allowed Chase Achuff to score and make the Eckerd lead 4-2, which held for the final three innings of the contest.
 
The Gyrenes put two runners aboard to threaten in the top of the ninth, but could not push the runs across.
 
Mason Dinesen extended his hitting streak to ten games with a single, and Matt Wiles added the other Ave Maria hit in the losing effort.
Andrew Giddens and Tommy Craparo each worked scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth frames for the Gyrenes.
 
Ave Maria remains on the road this week, travelling up to South Carolina for a Sun Conference series against USC-Beaufort. The series gets underway on Friday, with a 3:00 p.m. first pitch scheduled in Hardeesville.