AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Gyrenes swept their midweek doubleheader against the Ohio Christian Trailblazers, winning 12-3 and 8-2 respectively. The Gyrenes were hot as always at the plate, but the pitching showed up as well Tuesday, holding their opponents to under five runs for the second and third times this season.
In game one, the Gyrenes got on the board before their opponent for the first time this season, breaking a scoreless tie in the bottom of the second inning. With two runners in scoring position thanks to a Trailblazers' error, Tynan Shahidi slapped an RBI single to right field, scoring Jose Gonzalez and moving Francesco Barbieri to third. The next batter, Connor James, then popped up a sac-fly to left field that scored Barbieri and gave the Gyrenes an early 2-0 lead.
Ohio Christian got one run back in the top of the third, but that didn't phase the Gyrenes. Ave Maria put up another two runs in the bottom half of the inning. Gonzalez brought home the first run off an RBI single that scored Tanner Kelly and Shahidi brought home the second off an RBI double that scored Barbieri.
Once again, the Trailblazers scored a run in the following half inning, making the score 4-2. They had the baserunners to make it an even closer game, but catcher Axel Melendez caught his first two runners of the season stealing to end the inning and preserve the Gyrenes two run lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Gyrenes put up a four spot to put the game out of reach from the Trailblazers. With two runners on, Cole Rasbury hit an RBI single that scored Michael Kelly, who was pinch running for Melendez. Tanner Kelly then popped up a sacrifice fly that scored Jimmy Coffey. After a wild pitch moved him to third, Rasbury came home off a David Leonardi RBI single. The final run of the inning came off an error. Shahidi with runners on the corners and two outs, popped up a ball high over home plate. Ohio Christians catcher, Carter Glandon, tracked the ball against the bright blue sky and had his glove in a position to catch the ball and the inning, but didn't squeeze down on the glove and the ball bounced off his palm and into the field of play. Leonardi, who was already running because their were two outs in the inning, crossed home plate to put the Gyrenes up 8-2.
In the top of the fifth inning, Ave Maria made a call to the bullpen taking out starter Daniel Caylor. Caylor, who had been the second baseman in the Gyrenes first seven games, toed the bump as the starter for the first time in his Ave Maria career. The senior from Lehigh Acres had pitched in fifteen games before as a reliever for the Gyrenes across the 2020 and 2021 seasons, but didn't see the mound in 2022 and was never a starter. In his debut start for Ave Maria, Caylor tossed four innings, allowed two runs off three hits, and struck out four batters, earning his first win as a pitcher with Ave Maria.
Paul Arencibia came out of the bullpen to replace Caylor and made his Gyrene debut, tossing one inning and allowing one run to score off four hits.
After two blank half innings, the Gyrenes scored the final runs of the game, putting up another four-spot in the bottom of the sixth. Leonardi got things started with a leadoff solo home run, giving him four on the year. At the pace Leonardi is on right now, four home runs through the first nine games of the season, he is on track for 22 home runs, which would double his mark from last season, which was good enough to tie teammate Jose Gonzalez for most home runs in a season in Gyrene history.
Ave Maria got one more dinger in the in the bottom of the sixth inning, this time coming off the bat of Shahidi, who hit a three-run bomb for the first home run of his Ave Maria career. The three RBIs off his home run, brough his game total to five, which is a team high for RBIs in a single game.
Brennan Dolwick closed it out on the mound for the Gyrenes, tossing a hitless sixth and seventh innings while striking out three, giving Ave Maria a 12-3 win over Ohio Christian. The two teams only played seven innings due to it being a non-conference doubleheader.
Game two was more of the same from game one: the Gyrenes dominating on the mound and at the plate. Head coach Michael McCormick sent out another position player to start on the mound, and somehow got an even better pitching performance than Caylor in the previous game. Eric Havner, who had generally been used as pinch runner in the first seven games of the season, tossed a hitless three innings to start game two. It was the longest no-hit bid for the Gyrenes since March 22 of last year when Fernando Fernandez pitched a perfect 3.2 innings against the Fort Lauderdale Eagles before giving up a single in the bottom of the fourth inning. A few walks kept Havner away from perfect status, but a hitless three innings to start the game is very impressive and one of the better starts of the season for the Gyrenes.
At the plate, the Gyrenes immediately picked up right where they left off in game one. Francesco Barbieri got the scoring started for Ave Maria in the bottom of the first inning when he slapped an RBI single to right field that scored Tanner Kelly.
In the second inning, Jimmy Coffey hit his first home run as a Gyrene, smacking a solo shot over the left field wall, and putting the Gyrenes up 2-0.
Ave Maria would extend their lead again in the third inning with Tynan Shahidi getting his first two RBIs of the game and his sixth and seventh of the doubleheader off a single that brought home Jose Gonzalez and Tanner Kelly.
In the top of the fourth, Havner faced his first jam of the game, hitting the first batter, walking the second, and giving up his first hit of the game to load the bases. After a good first three innings, he was pulled, keeping him from becoming the pitcher of record. Kelton Little came in from the bullpen to do damage control and did a good job at limiting the Trailblazers. Though OCU had the bases loaded with nobody out, they were only able to bring home two runs and the Gyrenes stayed on top 4-2.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Gyrenes scored the remainder of their runs, putting up a four-spot on the board. The scoring started with a solo shot from Gonzalez, his second home run of the year. The next batter, Barbieri, then slapped a triple up against the right-center wall and slid into third base with plenty of time before the ball made it back into the infield. It was the third triple of the season for the Gyrenes. Barbieri trotted home the following at bat after Shahidi recorded his eighth and final RBI of the day with a double to left field. An overthrown error by Ohio Christian's shortstop on the next play trying to throw Conner James gave Shahidi enough time to round third and come home to score and put the Gyrenes up 7-2. The final run of the game came from a sacrifice fly from Jimmy Coffey that brought home James, giving the final score of 8-2.
After Little got Ave Maria out of the jam in the fourth inning, Ryan Schroeder pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning and Alex Nickler finished the game off with two scoreless innings and five strikeouts. Nickler set a career high with his five strikeouts, passing his previous mark of four punch outs against the Fort Lauderdale Eagles in January of last season. Since Havner wasn't able to go four innings in the shortened seven-inning game, Little got his first win of the season.
With the two wins, Ave Maria improves to 6-3 on the season and 3-3 in out of conference play. The Gyrenes are on the road for their next three games, traveling up to Jacksonville, Fla. for a weekend series with the Trinity Baptist Eagles. It's the first time back to Trinity Baptist for the Gyrenes since 2017 when the Gyrenes swept the Eagles in a three game set. Following the weekend series, Ave Maria returns home for a midweek contest against the Warner Royals. Though both teams are in the Sun Conference, that game will not count as a conference game, but will be good litmus test for the two teams against each other before they meet for the conference series in Lake Wales, Fla. April 14-15
