LAKELAND, Fla.- The Ave Maria University baseball team saw some team history made on Friday, despite a doubleheader sweep at the hands of the number one team in the nation, the Southeastern University Fire. Southeastern won 15-1 in the opener, and took the nightcap by an 11-7 final. However, first baseman David Leonardi hit home runs in each game to break the AMU single-season record with his eleventh longball of the campaign.

Game one was all Southeastern, as the Fire jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. Southeastern scored another run in the third inning, then pulled away with four runs each in the fifth and sixth innings. The Fire hit five home runs in the victory, including three-run shots from Stephen Cullen and Thomas Broyles.

Ave Maria's lone run came on the record-tying homer from Leonardi. The Southwest Ranches, Florida native came to the plate in the top of the fourth inning, and took likely Sun Conference Pitcher of the Year Robb Adams deep to center field. Leonardi's homer gave him ten for the season, making him just the second player in program history to hit double digits in home runs in a single season.

AMU did not trail in the first four innings of game two, taking an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first. The first four Gyrenes reached base to start the game, beginning with a Daniel Caylor single, a Tanner Kelly single, and a Jose Gonzalez hit by pitch before a walk to Leonardi put Ave Maria on top. 

After Southeastern scored one in the bottom of the second, the Gyrenes went back ahead, 3-1. The go-ahead run was Leonardi's second home run of the day, moving him ahead of Hunter McCarthy, who hit ten home runs in the 2014 season, in the record books. After the home run, Dylan Moser doubled, and eventually came around to score on an RBI single from Jimmy Coffey. 

Southeastern scored in the third inning, but Ave Maria responded with a run in the top of the fifth to keep the lead at two. That run came on yet another Ave Maria home run, as Kolby Blanchard clubbed his ninth home run of the season over the left center field fence. SEU took control of the game from there, though, with the next nine runs coming from the hosts - two in the bottom of the fifth, one in the sixth, and six in the bottom of the seventh. 

The Gyrenes made it interesting in the final two innings, scoring two in the eighth and one more in the ninth. A Daniel Caylor walk put a runner on base for Jose Gonzalez, who moved one back of Leonardi in the home run chance with a two-run shot, his tenth. Harrison Rossi was responsible for the run in the top of the ninth, as the outfielder drove in pinch runner Hayden Sullivan with a double to left field.

The season comes to an end for Ave Maria on Saturday, as the Gyrenes and Fire play the series finale at 11:00 a.m. on the Southeastern University campus.