AVE MARIA, Fla. – The Ave Maria baseball team picked up two wins on Tuesday afternoon when they swept Florida National, 10-0 (six innings) and 14-2 (five innings). Both games were shortened by run rule.
The Ave Maria offense scored in five of the six innings in game one to power past the Conquistadors, 10-0. AMU also got a shut-down performance by Trey Weathers on the mound. Weathers pitched a complete game shutout, allowing six hits and two walks while striking out five in his first collegiate win.
Matt Wiles got the scoring started for Ave Maria with an RBI double in the first to drive in Tully Allen. In the second, an RBI groundout by Alex Perez followed by a solo homerun by Justin Hartshorne made it 3-0 in favor of the Gyrenes.
Ave Maria added a run in the third and two more in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead. An RBI triple by Wiles in the sixth followed by an FNU error allowed Ryan Keegan and Wiles to score to make it 8-0. Later in the inning, Brody Howe had his second RBI of the day to increase the lead to nine. The Gyrenes walked-off in game one when Steven Valentine drew a bases-loaded hit by pitch to increase to advantage to 10.
Five AMU players recorded multiple hits and six recorded RBIs in the game one win. Wiles and Howe each had three hits. Wiles added three RBI and two runs while Howe finished with two RBI.
It was more of the same in game two for Ave Maria. After Florida National got a run in the top half of the first, AMU responded with one in the bottom half of the inning and four in the second. The Gyrenes added two more in both the third and fourth and five in the fifth to close out the game.
With the game tied 1-1, Perez and Allen each came up with RBI singles to break the tie. Rico Soto followed them up with a two-RBI single to make it 5-1. In the third with the score 5-2, Perez added another RBI to his total followed by a single by Hartshorne to drive in Nick Wydler.
Leading 9-2 in the fifth, Valentine hit a bases-loaded single to plate Soto. After a pitching change by FNU and with the bases still loaded, Robert McMahon swung at the first pitch he saw and drove it over the left field wall for a walk-off grand slam.
Alier Martinez got the start in game two and pitched four innings in the win. He allowed two earned runs on three hits and three walks. He struck out two. Austin Hayman pitched the final inning for the Gyrenes. He struck out one in clean top of the fifth.
Ave Maria returns to action on Friday when they begin a two-day, three game Sun Conference series against St. Thomas in Miami Gardens. First pitch on Friday is at 6 p.m.
