Lake Wales, FL -- The Ave Maria University baseball team ended their 2017 season with a series victory on Saturday afternoon, splitting a doubleheader with the Warner University Royals after a Friday victory. Ave pulled away for a 6-2 win in the first game of the set, but came just short of a sweep in a 5-4 loss.
 
Ave Maria scored five unanswered runs in the day's first game, and used a quality Christian Dufresne start to claim a 6-2 win.
 
The Gyrenes wasted little time in taking an initial lead, as the visitors scored a run in the top of the second. The run came entirely with two outs, with Matt Wiles drawing a walk after the first two hitters of the frame were retired. Wiles stole second, and was driven in on a single from Justin Hartshorne.
 
Warner came up with a two-out hit of their own in the bottom of the fourth to claim a 2-1 lead. Jordan Pike and Colby Retkowski each singled, but Dufresne struck the next two hitters out before a wild pitch put the runners on second and third. Gerson Sotolongo gave the Royals the lead with a single that plated both runners.
 
In the top of the sixth inning, AMU's Mason Dinesen put himself on third base with one out by singling and stealing both second and third base. Wiles drew another walk, and Hartshorne came through with the game-tying single.
 
The next inning saw the Gyrenes take the lead for good with a three-spot. AMU loaded the bases on an error and consecutive walks to Rico Soto and Ryan Keegan. A single from Dinesen gave Ave Maria the lead, and Ryan Cook followed with an RBI single of his own. The advantage moved to three runs for the Gyrenes when Hartshorne singled for the third time, driving in his third run of the day.
 
Ryan Cook provided the exclamation point on the victory, drilling a solo home run in the top of the ninth.
 
Christian Dufresne earned the victory for the Gyrenes, tossing seven solid innings with six strikeouts and just the two runs allowed.
Austin Comesanas and Justin Bureau pitched the final two innings, allowing just one hit to the Royals.
 
A back-and-forth contest went the way of the Royals in the finale, as Warner held on for a 5-4 win to complete the conference season for both teams.
 
For the second game in a row, Ave Maria struck first. In the top of the first, Ryan Keegan drove in Ryan Cook with a fielder's choice.
Cook had himself reached on a fielder's choice, while Tully Allen and Rico Soto added singles.
 
Warner scored each of the next three runs, one each in the first, third, and fourth innings. Jesse Haney drove in the first inning run with a groundout to third, while a sacrifice fly from Josh Canabal gave the Royals a 2-1 lead. Gerson Sotolongo homered in the fourth inning to increase the edge to two runs.
 
Soto evened the ballgame for the Gyrenes in the top of the fifth.
Miles Stevens was hit by a pitch and Allen singled, setting up a two-run double from the junior Soto. The lead didn't last long, as Warner responded with an RBI single from Jordan Pike in the bottom half of the frame.
 
The teams again traded runs in the top of the sixth inning. Justin Hartshorne drove in his fourth run of the day, a single that plated Andy Hernandez, who had started the frame with a triple. Warner's Ryan Klinger scored what proved to be the game-winning run off the bat of Junior Fermin.
 
Ave Maria loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the ninth, but were unable to score. Soto and Allen were AMU's offensive leaders with three hits each in the losing effort.
 
The win in the opening game gave the Gyrenes 20 wins for the first time since 2015, and the program posted its best winning percentage since 2014.