AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University baseball team logged their second victory of the season over a nationally-ranked team on Wednesday afternoon, as the Gyrenes claimed a 7-6 victory over No. 18 Webber International University at Bowie's Ballpark. Of AMU's four victories this season, the Gyrenes have picked up wins over No. 1 Southeastern, No. 18 Webber, and RV Missouri Baptist.
 
The Gyrenes got the first run of the afternoon in the bottom of the second inning. After a flyout started the frame, AMU put runners on second and third thanks to a single from Luis Dominguez and a double from Andy Hernandez. On a 3-2 pitch, Justin Hartshorne drew ball four, which then got away from the catcher to allow Dominguez to get the Gyrenes on the board.
 
Webber's offense came to life in the top of the third, scoring three times to take a two-run lead. A pair of RBI singles did the damage for the Warriors, with Willie Carter driving in the first run and Carlos Pino giving the Warriors a 3-1 lead with a two-out base hit.
 
In the bottom half of that inning, the Gyrenes responded with two runs and tied the contest at 3. Three consecutive singles from Tully Allen, Daniel Caylor, and Luis Rodriguez loaded the bases with no outs. Dominguez drove in Allen with a sacrifice fly with one out, and consecutive walks to Hernandez and Hartshorne allowed Caylor to score the game-tying run.
 
The lead flipped back to the Warriors in the top of the fifth on an unearned run. The Warriors had runners on first and second with one out, with both runners reaching on one-out walks. Marcus Begg then reached on an error, which brought Norbeto Navarro home from second base to give Webber a 4-3 lead.
 
Ave Maria took the lead for good with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, and added another insurance run in the sixth. The fifth started with a Dominguez single and a Hernandez double, and Hartshorne drove in Dominguez with a sacrifice fly. Alex Perez brought Hernandez in with a single, and an error off the bat of Caylor accounted for the third run of the inning. In the sixth, Dominguez scored again after reaching on an error, crossing the plate on another Webber error.
 
The final surge for the Warriors came in the top of the seventh, when Webber scored twice to get within a run of Ave Maria. Carter drove in one of the runs with a double, and a Begg sacrifice fly brought the Warriors within one. AMU was able to leave the bases loaded in the seventh, as well as with runners on second and third in the eighth, to preserve the non-conference victory.
 
As a team, the Gyrenes racked up 12 hits, with five players - Allen, Caylor, Rodriguez, Dominguez, and Hernandez- logging two each. Hartshorne led the Gyrenes with two RBIs. On the mound, Ben Krizen earned the victory with 1.2 scoreless innings of work. Justin David and Jake Davey shut down the Warriors in the eighth and ninth, recording six consecutive outs to ensure the win.
 
AMU begins Sun Conference play on Friday, when the Gyrenes travel to Lake Wales for a three-game series with the Warner University Royals. The opening game of the series is scheduled for a 6:00 p.m. first pitch, with a doubleheader to follow on Saturday.​