AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Gyrenes swept the Massachusetts Maritime Academy Buccaneers in a doubleheader Saturday, February 23, winning game one 7-2 and game two 13-6. The bats were on fire for the Gyrenes in both games, with Ave Maria totaling 21 hits over the 12 innings they stepped up to the plate.
In game one, Cameron Horner got the call and made his sixth start of the season. Horner was lights out on the mound, tossing four scoreless innings while only allowing one hit to start the game. It was a really good bounce back performance from Tuesday when Horner suffered his first loss of the season at the hands of the Southeastern Fire.
At the plate, the Gyrenes scored early and often, bringing home a run in each of the first two innings, and then bringing home two in the third. In the first inning, Daniel Caylor led the game off with a triple to center field and was easily brought home on the next at bat when Francesco Barbieri hit an RBI single down the first base line.
In the second inning, the Gyrenes brought their run home off a double steal, with Eric Havner stealing second and grabbing the attention of the Buccaneer defense allowing Cole Rasbury to run home and score. Those stolen bases were two of six bags swiped by the Gyrenes in game one who continue to show off excellent baserunning.
In the third inning, the Gyrenes doubled their run total again with Tanner Kelly hitting a two-RBI double that brought home Jose Gonzalez and David Leonardi, putting Ave Maria up 4-0. The double extended his hit streak to seven games now, the most on the team. It also brought his on-base streak to all 14 games that had been played so far.
The Gyrenes were kept off the board in the fourth inning, and the Buccaneers scored their first run off Cameron Horner in the fifth. Luckily, in the bottom half of that frame, Ave Maria got back to their scoring ways. Kelly recorded his second hit and third RBI of the game when he dropped a single in center field that scored Gonzalez. Jose Gonzalez went 2-for-4 in the first game of the doubleheader with two runs scored, both stats he was tied for the lead with on the team.
After Massachusetts Maritime picked up another run in the top of the six, the Gyrenes put up another two runs in the bottom half. Michael Signorelli got the inning started with a leadoff double to right field, the first extra-base hit of his Ave Maria career. Havner came in once again to pinch run for the AMU catcher, advanced to third on a ground out during the next at bat, and then was brought home off a sacrifice fly from pinch hitter Connor James.
The next at bat in that inning might be the craziest play of the 2023 season so far. David Leonardi, with nobody on and two outs, crushed a ball all the way against the center field wall, 395 feet away from home plate. Unfortunately for the Buccaneers, center fielder Chris Perito, lost the ball in the blue sky and was about 25 feet away from the ball when he finally tracked it down against the wall. Leonardi, who was just passing second by that time, took the opportunity to stretch for home. He rounded third with a full head of steam and slid past the catcher for an inside the park home run.
It was the first inside the park home run of the season for the Gyrenes and put them up 7-2 on Massachusetts Maritime. It also goes down as Leonardi's seventh home run of the season and the 21st of his career, giving him sole possession of second place on the Ave Maria career home runs leaderboard, passing Hunter McCarthy who played for the Gyrenes from 2011-2014.
Brandon Willoughby came out of the bullpen to toss the seventh inning. One batter got a hit, but Willoughby was able to retire the other three batters he faced and the Gyrenes were victorious 7-2 in game one.
Game two saw a lot more offensive production from Massachusetts Maritime, putting up six runs, but the Gyrenes dug deep and turned in their eighth game this season of scoring 10 or more runs to win 13-6.
Like in the first inning, the Gyrenes got on the board first, putting up three runs in the opening frame. With two on and nobody out, David Leonardi brought in the first run with an RBI single to right field that scored Daniel Caylor and moved Jose Gonzalez to third.
With runners on the corners, MMA starter Justin Brown tried to ease the pressure a little bit with a pickoff attempt to first, but unfortunately for the Buccaneers, the ball went pass the glove of the first baseman, allowing Leonardi to move up to second and Gonzalez to score. Leonardi validated Brown's concerns a few batters later when he stole third, and then was brought home off a Tynan Shahidi sacrifice fly which put Ave Maria up 3-0.
Gyrene starter Alex Nickler was steady through the first two innings, facing only seven batters, with the extra batter over the minimum reaching base via a fielding error. However, in the top of the third, the Buccaneers figured him out and brought home three runs of their own, tying the game.
Despite giving up the lead, the Gyrenes stepped up and squashed any MMA hopes of splitting the doubleheader, turning in a six-run bottom of the third. Caylor drew a leadoff walk to begin the frame and then was immediately brought home the next at bat off a Gonzalez RBI triple. It was the second triple of the doubleheader for AMU and brings their season total up to 7, which is the most in the Sun Conference.
Leonardi got his second RBI of the game with single that brought home Gonzalez and put the Gyrenes up 5-3. After a Connor James double put him and Leonardi into scoring position, Ave Maria struck again off the bat of Shahidi who singled to left field, scoring Leonardi and putting runners on the corners.
During the next at bat, Shahidi stole second to try to get into scoring position, and catcher Bill Gorry overthrew the fielder on the pickoff attempt. The ball rolled into center field, which gave James enough time to come home and score and Shahidi to advance to third on the error.
Three walks from MMA pitching following the error brought home Shahidi and put Ave Maria up 8-3 with the bases loaded with only one out. However, the Gyrenes were only able to bring home just one more run from that situation, with Tanner Kelly coming home to score off a Daniel Caylor sacrifice fly.
Massachusetts Maritime put a little pressure on the Gyrenes in the top of the fourth inning, scoring three runs all with two outs to get within three of Ave Maria. However, the Gyrenes played shutdown defense in the final three innings to win the game. The effort was led by pitch Justin David, who tossed the sixth and seventh innings, didn't allow a hit, and struck out three batters.
Ave Maria had one more high scoring inning in the bottom of the sixth when they brought in their final four runs. With runners on the corners, Shahidi raked in his third RBI of the game hitting a double to center field that scored Michael Kelly, who was pinch running for Gonzalez, and moved James over to third.
Tanner Kelly then got his first hit of the game, extending his hitting streak to eight games, and brought home both runners to put AMU up 12-6. The Gyrenes scored their final run of the game when freshman Blake Albritton hit a pinch-hit RBI single, recording his first collegiate at bat, hit, and RBI all in one swing.
With the two wins, Ave Maria improves to 11-4 and has swept their opponents four times this season. The Gyrenes stay home for their next two games, hosting a doubleheader against the Florida National Conquistadors Tuesday, February 28. First pitch is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. and both games can be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.
