HATTIESBURG, MISS.  – Despite claiming early leads, late inning outbursts by William Carey University in each game of a doubleheader led to a pair of losses for the Ave Maria University baseball team on Saturday afternoon.
 
After claiming an early 3-0 lead in the opener, the Gyrenes saw the Conquistadors score six runs on five hits in the bottom of the fifth to key an 11-5 victory.  William Carey followed with a four-run bottom of the seventh in game two to escape with a 10-9 win after entering the final frame trailing 9-6.
 
The pair of setbacks move the Gyrenes overall mark on the season to 8-17 overall, while the Conquistadors improve to 14-2-1.
 
Saturday's series finale also saw AMU grab an early 3-0 advantage in the top of the first – on the strength of an William Carey miscue, an RBI single by Clayton Stanley and a sacrifice fly off the bat off Aidan Hickey.
 
Jake Lycette trimmed the lead to 3-2 with a two-run triple to deep left center in the bottom half of the first.
 
Daniel Caylor drove home a run for the Gyrenes on a sacrifice fly in the second before the Conquistadors took the lead at 5-4 with a three-run third which was sparked by solo shot by Sloan Dieter.  Lycette added his third RBI of the game with a single in the fourth to increase the margin to 6-4.
 
AMU seemed to have control of the game after posting five runs in the top of the sixth off four hits and a pair of WCU errors – claiming a 9-5 edge.  Bergkamp provided the big hit with a bases loaded double that cleared the bases.
 
Unfortunately for the Gyrenes, the Conquistadors put up four runs in the bottom of the seventh, including a run-scoring single by Lycette, his fifth RBI of the contest, to plate Jay Johnston with the winning run in the walk-off 10-9 victory.
 
The opener once again saw AMU begin the contest with three runs in the top of the first.  An RBI single by Ethan Bergkamp started things off and was followed a sacrifice fly off the bat of Brody Rubenstein and a William Carey error, which plated a third run.
 
William Carey would tie the game with a three-run third before taking the lead for good off a couple of runs in the fourth.  A pair of RBI singles were coupled with a run scoring error to give the Conquistadors deadlocked the score at 3-3.  Johnston laced a single to shallow center to plate two in the fourth, making the score 5-3.
 
The Conquistadors added six runs off five hits in the sixth to account for the final 11-5 margin.
 
Ave Maria continues its current road trip with a three-game Sun Conference series at Warner University beginning on Friday, March 19.  First pitch for the series opener in Lake Wales, Fla., is set for 3 p.m. EDT.