AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria University baseball made a major national statement on Saturday, sweeping a doubleheader, and therefore sweeping the series against the #18 St. Thomas Bobcats Saturday, winning both games by a combined 16 runs. The Gyrenes mercy-ruled the Bobcats in game one winning 15-5 in eight innings and won game two 12-6 in the normal nine frames.
Game one saw a lot of scoring from both teams in the early innings with the Gyrenes leading 6-4 after three. After falling down 2-0, Tynan Shahidi and Jimmy Coffey hit back-to-back RBI singles with two outs to tie the game. Then Connor James hit his second triple of the season to bring home Shahidi and Coffey, giving Ave Maria a 4-2 lead.
The Bobcats tied it up in the top of the third, but James recorded his second RBI hit of the game, this time a double, and Cole Rasbury hit the second ground-rule double of the series and the season for AMU in the bottom half to give the Gyrenes a 6-4 lead.
St. Thomas added one more run in the top of the fourth, and then the game went quiet for two innings. The scoreboard was finally lit up again in a big way when the Gyrenes posted a five spot in the bottom of the sixth inning. Daniel Caylor got the scoring started with a two-RBI single, followed by a Coffey RBI single. James then drew a walk with the bases loaded to score another run, and Rasbury popped up a sacrifice fly to score the final run of the frame. It was the 18th time this season the Gyrenes have scored five or more runs in an inning this season.
The final two innings saw David Leonardi and Tanner Kelly each hit a two-RBI single, in the seventh and eighth respectively, to put Ave Maria up 10 and trigger the mercy rule in the eighth inning. It is the third time the Gyrenes have mercy-ruled a conference opponent, having beat the Thomas Night Hawks 13-3 in January and the Warner Royals 11-1 in February.
Including his mercy-rule walk-off single in the eighth inning, Kelly went 2-for-5 with a walk in the early game, extending his record-setting on-base streak to all 30 games of the season.
During the game, the Gyrenes abused the Bobcats on the basepaths, swiping 13 bags, setting a new school record for stolen bases in a game. The previous high was 11 stolen bases, which was set earlier this year in the very first game of the season, which saw the Gyrenes beat the Night Hawks 12-7.
On the mound, Kevin Figueredo tossed five innings, allowed five runs, four of them earned, off nine hits, walked two and struck out one. A solid performance from the junior who improves to 3-1 on the season.
Matt Barragy, Brandon Willoughby, and Justin David all took an inning after Figueredo and kept the Bobcats scoreless during that time to allow the offense to clinch the mercy rule.
In game two, Ave Maria came one run away from getting the mercy rule, but ended up having to play all nine innings, still beating the Bobcats 12-6.
The Gyrenes got on the board first this time with Jose Gonzalez cranking a solo shot off the scoreboard in left field for his fourth home run of the season. It was the sophomore's first home run in 21 games and 43 days.
The Bobcats took their first lead of the series in the top of the second, but it was quickly regained by Ave Maria in the bottom half. Rasbury and Kelly combined for two RBI singles to put the Gyrenes on top 3-2. The single also extended Kelly's on-base streak to all 31 games.
In the fourth, the Gyrenes put up their second five-spot of the doubleheader and their 19th big inning of the season. This frame saw for RBI singles from Michael Signorelli, Gonzalez, Shahidi, and Coffey to score the five runs, with Shahidi's being a two-RBI single.
Two more runs scored in the sixth inning off the bats of Shahidi and Coffey again, and the final two runs came into score in the eighth inning off the bats of Signorelli and Rasbury. It second multi-hit game and first multi-RBI game of the season for Signorelli, a junior catcher who has been splitting games with Axel Melendez, who caught in game one.
St. Thomas scored one run in the seventh and three in the ninth to avoid the mercy rule, but the Gyrenes lead was too great and Ave Maria won the game 12-6.
Jimmy Coffey finished the doubleheader with a career day at the plate, going a perfect 5-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs. It is the first time this season any Gyrene has record five hits in one game, and the first time since March 18, 2013, when Conor Sullivan went 5-for-6 against Eckerd College. Five hits in a game have only two other times in Ave Maria history, with Gabe Loweree and Alex Sanchez each getting five hits on March 9, 2010, in a game against Southeastern.
On the mound, David got his second start of the season and was firing on all cylinders. The senior from St. Cloud, Florida, tossed six innings, only allowed two runs on five hits, walked two and struck out two for his fourth win of the season.
Freshman Blake Albritton made his first appearance on the mound in a Gyrene uniform and pitched 2.2 innings. Albritton pitched pretty well in the seventh and eighth, but got a little shaky in the ninth and allowed three runs, so he was pulled before he could complete the three-inning save. Chris Cuppini finished things up for Ave Maria getting his lone batter to groundout to end the game.
With the wins, the Gyrenes improve to 24-7 on the year and 8-1 in conference play. The Gyrenes have also now swept two of the their three conference series this year.
Ave Maria will take six days off getting ready for their biggest series of the season next weekend, when the number one team in the country, the Southeastern Fire, come into town. Ave Maria and Southeastern played a midweek game back in February against each other which saw the Fire win 10-5.
Game one is Friday, March 31, with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. The series concludes with a doubleheader Saturday starting at noon. All three games can be streamed on the Sun Digital Network either on the website or the app available on most cellular devices and smart TVs. Live stats can also be found on avemariagyrenes.com.
