HATTIESBURG, Miss.- The Ave Maria University baseball team used a gem from starting pitcher Justin Bureau to claim a 2-0 victory over Georgetown College in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on Saturday afternoon. The game proved to be the last game of the weekend when the scheduled finale was rained out.
Ave Maria took the lead quickly, scoring one of their two runs in the top of the first. Tully Allen singled to lead off the game, and moved up to second base when Rico Soto was hit by a pitch with one out. After Soto reached, Ryan Keegan blooped a single into shallow center, allowing Allen to score from second. Allen was the lone Gyrene to record two hits in the victory.
The 1-0 lead held until the top of the fourth inning, when the Gyrenes scored their final run with a two-out rally. After a groundout and a strikeout, Robby McMahon kept the inning alive with a single through the left side of the infield. Chris Wydler came in to run for McMahon, and came around to score when his brother Nick blasted a triple to deep right field.
Bureau tossed six innings in his second start of the season, moving to 2-0 on the season. The senior righthander allowed five hits over six innings, striking out four Georgetown hitters. In his six innings, Georgetown never advanced a runner past second base.
Andrew Giddens earned his second save of the year with a 1-2-3 seventh inning, forcing two groundouts and a flyout to right field.Â
The second game of the scheduled doubleheader, against the host William Carey University, was rained out and will not be rescheduled. With the fourth game of the roadtrip washed out, the Gyrenes finish their trip to Mississippi with a 1-2 record, and return to Florida on a winning note.
The Gyrenes play their first two games of the season against a conference opponent on Tuesday, when Ave Maria travels to Southeastern University for a doubleheader against the Fire. The games are considered non-conference affairs, and will both be seven innings in length. The first game in Lakeland is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. first pitch.
