MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.  – The Ave Maria baseball team was on the short end of an 11-3 margin in the opening game of a weekend series at Florida Memorial on Friday afternoon.
 
The loss marked the Gyrenes third straight and drops their overall mark to 2-8 and 1-3 in Sun Conference action.  Florida Memorial improves to 4-3 with the victory and 2-2 in conference play.
 
Ave Maria allowed runs in each of the first five innings as the Lions totaled 14 hits in the contest.
 
Sophomore Callan Carn started and took the loss for AMU after allowing 10 hits and seven runs over four innings.  He struck out seven and walked one as he saw his record slip to 0-3.  Dawrin Ruiz earned the win for FMU after limiting the Gyrenes to one run and four hits over 5.1 innings of relief.  He fanned nine and walked three.
 
Junior Yunior Sanchez reached on a triple for the Lions in the first, before scoring on a wild pitch by Carn to put FMU up 1-0.
 
The Gyrenes deadlocked the score at 1-1 with a single tally in the top of the second.  Ethan Bergkamp opened the inning with a single up the middle and was pinch run for by Anier Ricardo.  Ricardo advanced to third on a passed ball and fly out, before coming around to score on a sacrifice fly by senior Alex Perez.
 
Florida Memorial took control after that with nine runs over the next four innings, including three in both the second and fifth.
 
Junior Kolby Blanchard led off the top of the fourth with a double for the Gyrenes and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bergkamp.  A pair of doubles in the sixth led to another run for AMU.  Bergkamp ripped a one-out double to center before scoring on a two-bagger three hitters later by senior Clayton Stanley, trimming the margin to 10-3.
 
Two errors by the Gyrenes in the bottom of the seventh led to the final run of the game by Florida Memorial.
 
Ave Maria concludes its series at Florida Memorial on Saturday, Feb. 20 with a doubleheader slated for an 11 a.m. first pitch.