DAVENPORT, Fla. — The Ave Maria Gyrenes scored eight of their nine runs in the first two innings Thursday and cruised to a 9-5 win over the Cornerstone University Golden Eagles. Tanner Kelly led the offense with three RBIs while starter Cameron Horner was lights out on the mound, earning his sixth win of the season.
David Leonardi got the scoring started for AMU in the bottom of the first inning when he blasted a two run homer over the left field wall. That was Leonardi's eighth dinger of the season, which not only gives him the most home runs among all Sun Conference players, but puts his career total at 22 now, one away from tying the all-time career home run leader in Ave Maria history, Andy Hernandez. Jose Gonzalez was on board and brought home by the home run.
A little later in the inning, Kelly brought home Tynan Shahidi off an RBI single to right field, putting the Gyrenes up 3-0. With the hit, Kelly extends his hit streak to 11 games, one away from cracking the top ten longest hit streaks in Ave Maria history. His on-base streak extends to all 18 games played this season, which is also one game away from cracking the top 10 longest streaks in AMU history.
In the second inning, the Gyrenes brought home the bulk of their runs, having five runners cross the plate. With two on and one out, Gonzalez singled through the left side bringing home Michael Kelly, who was pinch running for catcher Axel Melendez, and moving Daniel Caylor to second. Leonardi drew a walk during the next plate appearance to load the bases for Shahidi. The transfer from Tennessee Tech doubled to left center, bringing home Caylor and Gonzalez to put the Gyrenes up by six.
Another walk issued this time to Connor James loaded the bases again for AMU. Tanner Kelly stepped up to the plate and got his second and third RBIs of the game with a single that scored Leonardi and Shahidi and put the Gyrenes up 8-0. It was Kelly's third three RBI game of the season and his eighth multi-RBI game in 2023. He his tied for the lead with Leonardi who, thanks to his two-run homer in the first inning, also recorded his eighth multi-RBI game of the season. Shahidi was the third and final Gyrene to record a multi-RBI game Thursday, bringing his season total to six which is third most on the team.
The ninth and final run for the Gyrenes came in the fifth inning when Caylor hit a single to left field that scored Cole Rasbury.
On the mound, Horner got in a groove and did not give allow many opportunities to the Golden Eagles. The sophomore from Madeira Beach tossed seven innings, scattering six hits, and striking out eight batters while only walking two. The eight punchouts ties a season high for Horner, who struck out eight against Massachusetts Maritime in his most recent start prior to Thursday. The Golden Eagles finally managed two runs off Horner in his seventh and final frame of work. Horner got the win, improving to 6-1 on the year, which puts him tied with Austin Munn for fourth most wins in a single season as a Gyrene. Munn pitched for Ave Maria from 2013-17.
Cornerstone came to life in the final three innings of the ballgame, getting the two runs off Horner in the seventh, bringing home one run in the eighth and two more in the ninth. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to overcome the deficit and the Gyrenes won 9-5. It was the first game this season for the Gyrenes that was decided by less than five runs.
With the win, the Gyrenes improve to 14-4 and are 1-0 in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. The Gyrenes have a busy day Friday with a doubleheader against Cornerstone starting at 9 a.m. in Auburndale, Florida. The Gyrenes close out the invitational Saturday against the Mount Vernon Nazarene Cougars.
