AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University baseball team's hopes for a postseason berth took a major hit on Saturday afternoon, as the Gyrenes erased a seven-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth, but gave three runs back in the tenth in a 12-9 loss to the Sand Sharks of the University of South Carolina Beaufort. Before the game, six members of the AMU baseball program were honored during Senior Day festivities.

A grand slam in the top of the first inning gave the Sand Sharks a lead that would hold up until the bottom of the ninth. Ave Maria inched closer in the bottom of the second, cutting the USCB lead in half. The Gyrenes loaded the bases on two singles and a walk, and Dylan Moser scored the first run of the day for AMU on a wild pitch. After a walk re-loaded the bases, Ethan Bergkamp cut the Sand Shark lead to two with a sacrifice fly. 

USCB would score a run in the third to make it 5-2, then added four more in the top of the ninth to seemingly put the game away. Ave Maria refused to go down that easily on Senior Day, sending the game to extra innings with seven runs in the bottom of the ninth. AMU's runs came on a Kolby Blanchard homer, a Harrison Rossi double, a fielder's choice off the bat of Tanner Kelly, a Jose Gonzalez single, a passed ball, and a game-tying two-run double from Blanchard.

Ave Maria's momentum would not hold up into the tenth inning. The Sand Sharks loaded the bases on a single and two walks, bring Wesley Ambrose to the plate with three runners on and two out. Ambrose came up with the biggest hit of the season for the Sand Sharks, a bases clearing double that would prove to be the difference. The Gyrenes went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the tenth to complete their home schedule.

Blanchard was Ave Maria's standout at the plate, going 3-for-5 with three RBIs, all in the ninth inning. On the mound, Nyk Crumrine made the most of his Senior Day, working three scoreless innings from the sixth to the eighth to keep Ave Maria in the game.

To qualify for The Sun Conference Tournament, the Gyrenes will need a sweep of Southeastern, four Webber losses this week, and one loss by Florida Memorial. Ave Maria's regular season will come to an end this weekend, when the Gyrenes face the number one team in the nation, the Fire of Southeastern University. The series starts at 1:00 p.m. Friday, and the final games of the conference schedule are set for 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday.