AVE MARIA, Fla. – The Ave Maria University baseball team led No. 1 ranked Southeastern University through seven innings, before falling by a 6-4 count in the opening game of doubleheader at Bowie's Ballpark on Tuesday afternoon.
The Gyrenes were defeated 11-3 in the second game, which was called after seven innings due to darkness.
In the opener, the two teams battled through three scoreless frames, before Southeastern broke through on a RBI single by senior Carter Bridge in the top of the fourth.
AMU tied the game at 1-1 in its half of the fourth after Aidan Hickey drew a walk to lead off the inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by David Leonardi.
Senior Pedro Castellano hit a two-run homer over the right field wall in the top of the fifth to reclaim the lead for the Fire at 3-1.
The Gyrenes answered with a single run in the fifth and a pair in the sixth to take a 4-3 edge. Junior Kolby Blanchard laced a double down the left field line to plate Brody Rubenstein in the fifth. Blanchard followed with another run-scoring double in the sixth. Rubenstein then drove in Wilfredo Acevedo on a sacrifice fly.
AMU clung to the lead until the top of the eighth – which saw each of the first three Southeastern hitters reach safely. Austin James brought in one run via a sacrifice fly to tie the score at 4-4, before a bunt single by Anthony Carrera scored Raymond Gonzalez, to give the Fire the lead for good at 5-4.
Castellano drove in his third run of the contest on a double to right field in the ninth to account for the game's final run.
Daniel Caylor and Blanchard each registered a pair of hits for the Gyrenes. Blanchard added a pair of RBI. Caastellano paced the Fire at the dish with three hits, including a double and a home run while adding three RBI and two runs scored.
Ave Maria left a total of 10 runners on base in the loss, while Southeastern stranded nine.
Freshman Brandon Diaz (1-3) went seven innings while allowing seven hits and five runs. He was hit with the loss for AMU after striking out eight, walking three and hitting a pair of batters. Al Pesto picked up the win for the Fire after 3.2 innings of one-hit, scoreless relief.
The nightcap saw the two teams trade a pair of runs in the first before Southeastern plated three in the second to open a 5-2 edge.
Castellano picked up where he left off in the opener with a two-run blast in the top of the first to make the score 2-0.
Rubenstein answered with a long ball of his own in the bottom half of the first what cleared the right field wall and plated Caylor, to deadlock the score at 2-2.
Enrique Porchas got things going for the Fire with a one-out double in the second. After a walk and a single loaded the bases, Porchas came around to score when teammate Sam Faith was hit by a pitch. Castellano stayed hot with a two-RBI single up the middle, making the score 5-2.
Acevedo worked a leadoff walk to open the bottom of the third for AMU and advanced to second on a wild pitch. A throwing error by Southeastern catcher Shamir Morales on a dropped third strike allowed Acevedo to score one hitter later, trimming the deficit to 5-3.
Southeastern wouldn't allow the Gyrenes to get any closer as it padded its lead with a single run in the fourth, a pair in the fifth and three in the sixth.
Brandon Heiss (1-0) earned the win in relief for the Fire after limiting the Gyrenes to no hits and one unearned run over two innings. He struck out four and walked one. Freshman Kelton Little (0-1) took the loss after allowing five runs and six hits in two innings.
The Gyrenes return to action on Friday, Feb. 26 for the first contest of a three-game road series at Edward Waters College in Jacksonville. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. ET.
