AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Gyrenes swept the Florida National Conquistadors Tuesday, February 28, winning game one 7-1 and game two 18-2. Both games saw really good performances from the plate for AMU and two dominant outings from their starting pitchers.
In game one, there was a steady flow of runs coming in for the Gyrenes. They brought a run across the plate in the first five innings of the seven-inning game before taking their foot off the gas in their final at-bats in the sixth. In the first inning, the Gyrenes scored two runs off back-to-back RBI singles from Conner James and Tanner Kelly. The single from Kelly extended his hitting streak to nine games and his on-base streak to all 16 games played this season.
In the top of the second, Florida National responded with a run of their own, but that didn't faze the Gyrenes. Jose Gonzalez brought in Ave Maria's run in the second inning, hitting a single up the middle to score Eric Havner, who was pinch running for catcher Michael Signorelli. Signorelli drew his ninth walk of the season to put a baserunner on board for AMU. In just 21 plate appearances, that give Signorelli a walk rate of .429 at the time, the highest of anyone o the team with more than 10 plate appearances.
In the third inning, Kelly got his second RBI of the game with a double that initially had Connor James ending up at third. James was tripped in between second and third however and was then awarded home plate due to interference, putting Ave Maria up 4-1.
In the fourth inning, the Conquistador defense started to fall apart, giving up their three errors of the game in the next two frames. Tynan Shahidi reached base safely on error by the first baseman allowing David Leonardi to score. In the fifth inning, Kelly got on board due to another FNU error and made it to second. A wild pitch moved him to third and a walk put runners on the corners for the Gyrenes. A sacrifice bunt by Jimmy Coffey scores Kelly, and then a groundout from Signorelli score Rasbury, giving AMU their seventh and final run.
On the mound, Kevin Figueredo was dominant for the Gyrenes. The lefty junior from Miami tossed a seven-inning complete game while only allowing one run off seven hits. It was the first seven-inning complete game for the Gyrenes since tossed Ryan Schroeder pitched a complete game against the Thomas Night Hawks, a game AMU won in mercy rule fashion 12-2 in seven innings.
The seven innings tossed by Figueredo Tuesday was the most innings pitched by a Gyrene this season, passing three different outings, including himself, that only went six innings. Figueredo also struck out 11 batters, the most by any Ave Maria pitcher this season. The previous high was by Ryan Schroeder when he struck out 10 in the season opener again against Thomas. All of that combined, Figueredo produced a game score, a stat created by Bill James to boil down every starting pitcher's performance into one number, of 72, the highest of aby Ave Maria starter this season.
Game two was very similar to game one in that the Gyrenes scored in their first five innings at the plate and got a dominant performance from their starting pitcher, Ryan Schroeder. The big highlight for the Gyrenes was an eight-run inning in the bottom of the first.
The first six batters for AMU all reached base safely and came into score. Daniel Caylor got the inning started with a leadoff walk. Jose Gonzalez then reached safely on an infield single and both he and Caylor advanced one extra base following an error from Florida National's first baseman. David Leonardi brought both runners home with an RBI single and advanced to second on the throw. Tynan Shahidi then smacked a single that put runners on the corners for Ave Maria. Connor James followed that up with a single that scored Leonardi and moved Shahidi to second.
Tanner Kelly got in on the action hitting a single to left field to load the bases. That extended his hitting streak to 10 games and on-base streak to all 17 games played. With the bases loaded, the Conquistadors finally got their first out of the game on a strikeout. Jimmy Coffey then drew a walk, advancing each base runner 90 feet and making the score 4-0. FNU then got another strikeout to bring them with in one out of getting out of a loaded bases jam with a minimal amount of damage. Caylor had other ideas however, hitting a three-RBI double in his second plate appearance of the inning, putting Ave Maria up 7-0. Gonzalez brought in the final run with his second hit of the inning, an RBI triple to bring home Caylor.
Eight runs in one inning is tied for the second most this season by the Gyrenes, tying when they put up eight runs in the eighth inning against Thomas in their second game of the season to win 13-3. It was also the 10th time this season the Gyrenes have scored five or more runs in an inning.
In the second inning, AMU brought home another run off an RBI groundout from Kelly. Following that, the Gyrenes scored three runs in each of the next three innings. In the third inning, a wild pitch brought home Coffey and Gonzalez collected two more RBIs off a double to left field. That was Gonzalez's third hit of the game in as many at bats and brought him a home run short of the cycle. Sadly, it would be his last hit of the game, and that accomplishment is yet to be achieved by a Gyrene.
In the fourth, Caylor hit a two-RBI double to left field scoring Eric Havner, who was running for catcher Axel Melendez, and Coffey. The two RBIs gave Caylor five on the day, tying a season high with Shahidi who brought home five runs in game one of a doubleheader against Ohio Christian February 7. A wild pitch later in the inning would score Caylor, giving AMU their three runs for the inning.
Finally in the fifth, the Gyrenes scored their final three runs of the game. With the bases loaded and two outs, Caylor hit a grounder to the third baseman that should have been fielded cleanly, but was bobbled by the Conquistador, eliminating any play at every base, and allowing James to score and the other three Gyrenes to move up to the next base. The play was ruled an error, keeping Caylor at 5 RBIs and tied with Shahidi for most RBIs in a game. Gonzalez then got hit by a pitch during the next at bat, brining home the penultimate run.
The 18th and final run of the game came in a very unusual fashion the next plate appearance. With the bases still loaded, Florida National head coach Nick Strong, decided to intentionally walk Leonardi, keeping him from batting. This was the third time in the doubleheader Leonardi had been intentionally walked, but it was the first time it brought home a run. The Conquistadors said they would rather give up one run than pitch to Leonardi, the Gyrenes best hitter. Havner, who got to pinch hit for Coffey that inning and drew a walk himself, crossed home plate following the intentional walk and put the 18th and final run on the board for the Gyrenes.
18 runs is tied for the fourth highest total in a game by Ave Maria, matching an 18-1 win for the Gyrenes February 1, 2014, against the Johnson Suns. It is also the most runs scored by AMU this season.
If the performance at the plate wasn't impressive enough in game two, Ryan Schroeder was even better on the mound. He retired the first eight batters he saw in a row before giving up a walk in the third inning to the ninth hitter. Schroeder kept up his hitless streak into the fourth inning, tossing a 3.2 innings before giving up his first hit to Yordangel Gonzalez. The 3.2 innings was the longest no-hit bid for the Gyrenes this season, passing two games that went 3 innings with no hits, most recently by Cameron Horner in his declared three inning start against Warner February 14.
Callan Carn and Jakob MacLeod came out of the bullpen in the fifth and sixth inning, each making their 2023 debut. Carn gave up the two runs scored by the Conquistadors in the fifth inning, but otherwise looked good. MacLeod faced the minimum three batters, giving up a walk to his first batter, but immediately erasing that with a groundout double play.
In the later innings of game two, Michael Kelly entered in for his brother at shortstop, and got two at-bats on his birthday.
In the seventh and final inning Paul Arencibia came out of the bullpen to finish off the game. Arencibia faced four batters, hitting one of them, but retiring the other three.
With the wins, the Gyrenes improve to 13-4 on the season and a perfect 10-0 at home at Bowie's Ballpark. Ave Maria finishes the month of February off 10-3. The Gyrenes are on the road for the next four games playing in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational in Davenport and Auburndale, Florida.
The Gyrenes will play three games against the Cornerstone Golden Eagles from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and one game against the Mount Vernon Nazarene Cougars from Ohio. Following that, the Gyrenes are back at home for a doubleheader against the Dordt Crusaders Wednesday, March 8. Both games will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network and live stats can be found on the Ave Maria Gyrenes websit
