AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University baseball team could not complete a three-game sweep of the Thomas University Night Hawks on Saturday afternoon, falling 12-5 in the series finale at Bowie's Ballpark. The Gyrenes still left the weekend with the series win over Thomas, taking two of the three games.

Ave Maria got off to a great start on Saturday afternoon, jumping out to a 3-0 lead over the Night Hawks in the bottom of the first. After a leadoff single from Daniel Caylor, Kolby Blanchard got AMU on the board with an RBI triple. Jeff Cardazzone then added an RBI groundout, giving the Gyrenes a 2-0 lead with two outs. Ave Maria added a third run on an Alex Perez double, a walk to Aidan Hickey, and an error off the bat of Ethan Bergkamp.

Thomas then scored nine unanswered runs, beginning with three in the top of the second. The Night Hawks loaded the bases on singles from Luis Torres and Turner Maddox, as well as a walk to Rodwell Munoz. With two outs, Jacob Paterson cleared the bases with a double to left center, tying the score at three after two innings.

The Night Hawks took the lead for good in the top of the third, adding two more runs. A one-out double from Brad Toxen and a walk to Andy Valdes, followed by a passed ball, put runners on second and third with one out. Torres drove in the first run of the frame with an RBI single, and Maddox followed with an RBI groundout, giving the Night Hawks a 5-3 lead.

Three runs in the fifth inning and one more in the sixth increased Thomas' lead to 9-3. Maddox added a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning that scored Toxen, and Jake Bryan followed with a two-run double that plated Torres and Valdes. In the sixth inning, Torres was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, forcing Jayson Zmejkoski in from third.

AMU ended Thomas' streak of nine unanswered runs with a score in the bottom of the seventh. Caylor reached with a one-out walk, then moved to second base on a single from Hayden Sullivan. Sullivan and Caylor pulled a double steal to get to second and third, and an error on the throw from Thomas allowed Caylor to score. 

TU's half of the scoring was concluded with one run in the top of the eighth and two more in the ninth. The run in the eighth inning was driven in by Torres, whose double drove in Valdes. In the ninth inning, Zmejkoski logged an RBI double, and Toxen ended the scoring for the Night Hawks with an RBI single. One final run was scored by the Gyrenes in the bottom of the ninth, ending the day's scoring.

The top three hitters in the Ave Maria lineup - Caylor, Sullivan, and Blanchard - all had two hits in the losing effort. Thomas was led by Torres, who went 3-for-5 with three runs batted in and two runs scored.

Ave Maria concludes the 2021 season with three games against No. 2 Southeastern, beginning with a solo game Friday at Bowie's Ballpark.