ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. --- The Ave Maria baseball team fell to NCAA DII Eckerd College, 11-4, on Tuesday night in a midweek matchup in St. Petersburg. The Gyrenes move to 6-10 as the prepare to host #18 Webber this weekend for a three-game Sun Conference series.
 
The Gyrenes struck first in the top of the second inning when Tyler Chase doubled to left center to drive in Brian Spradlin and Alex Perez.
 
Eckerd responded with a run in the bottom half of the innings, two runs in the third, and three in the fourth to make it a 6-2 game. Two more runs for the Tritons in the bottom of the sixth made it 8-2 before the Gyrenes broke the run with a run in the top of the seventh.
 
In the seventh, Nick Wydler singled to right field to bring in Jared Halteman. Halteman picked up an RBI of his own in the top of the eighth, connecting on a 3-1 pitch up the middle to plate Spradlin.
 
A three-run homerun in the bottom of the eighth capped the 11-4 win for Eckerd. The Tritons had 17 hits compared to seven by the Gyrenes.
 
Five pitchers took the mound for AMU with no one going more than 2.1 innings. Noah Christopher and Kavin Kroll had the best outings for the Gyrene staff. Christopher, the games starter for Ave Maria, pitched two innings and allowed three hits and one unearned run. He struck out two. Kroll went an inning and two-thirds and allowed three hits and no runs with a strikeout.
 
Six different Gyrene batters combined for the seven team hits, led by Halteman's two hits. Spradlin reached base in three of his four at-bats with two walks and a hit-by-pitch. He scored two runs.
 
First pitch from Friday's series opener against Webber is 2 p.m. at Bowie's Ballpark.