LAKELAND, Fla.- The Ave Maria University baseball concluded one of the most offensively prolific seasons in program history on Saturday, as the Gyrenes logged five runs on 12 hits in a 15-5 loss to the number one team in the nation, the Southeastern University Fire. Ave Maria had leads in the first and third innings, but could not withstand the onslaught from the SEU lineup.

The Ave Maria home run record, which was broken by David Leonardi on Friday, was again re-written on Saturday. On the very first pitch of the contest, Jose Gonzalez cleared the left field wall, belting his eleventh home run of the season to pull even with his teammate. Neither play would hit a home run for the rest of the day, leaving the duo together on top of the Gyrene record books.

Southeastern answered with a run in the bottom of the first, but another home run pulled the Gyrenes ahead in the top of the third. With two outs, Leonardi singled through the left side, bringing Kolby Blanchard to the plate. The senior went deep to center field, hitting his tenth home run of the season to give the Gyrenes a 3-1 lead. Blanchard's homer made him the fourth player in school history to hit ten homers in a season, with three coming this season.

From there, Southeastern outscored the Gyrenes 14-2, scoring six runs in the bottom of the third, six more in the fifth, and two in the seventh to end the game early due to the NAIA run rule. The last of Ave Maria's 50 home runs this season accounted for the final two runs of 2022. After a two-out single from Daniel Caylor, Tanner Kelly crushed his sixth home run of the season to center field, cutting the Fire's lead to 7-5 at the time.

Eight of Ave Maria's nine offensive starters logged at least one hit in the season finale, with the middle of the order - Blanchard, Caylor, Kelly, and Dylan Moser - each recording two hits. Blanchard and Kelly led the run production with two RBIs each, both coming on their respective home runs. Blanchard also stole Ave Maria's lone base, moving his career total to a school record of 55.

For the first time in nine years, the Gyrenes finish the season with a winning record, going 27-25-1 in the 2022 season. Ave Maria's offensive output was historic, with nearly all of the single-season individual records. The team is expected to have All-Conference selections, which will be announced next week, for the first time since 2018.