AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Gyrenes dropped game one of a three game series to the number 1 Southeastern Fire, 10-8. Despite the loss though, the Gyrenes kept up with the Fire and led for about four innings.
Southeastern opened up the scoring in the top of the first plating two runs off a Pablo Lanzarote single up the middle. Only one of the runs counted as earned though against Ave Maria starter Cameron Horner because the second baserunner got on via an error. It was the first error committed by the Gyrene defense since March 18, with Ave Maria playing three clean games in their series last weekend against St. Thomas.
Ave Maria responded and took the lead in the bottom of the second with three runs of their own. Conner James hit his third triple of the season and brought home Jimmy Coffey for the first run. Those three triples tie him with AMU's Jose Gonzalez and SEU's Josh Pigozzo for most triples in the SUN Conference. In the next at-bat, Cole Rasbury hit a hard roller past the second baseman and into right field, bringing home James. That wasn't enough for Rasbury though, who caught the Fire right fielder jogging to the ball instead of running and stretched the single into a double, sliding face first into the bag. The Gyrenes took the lead a couple batters later when Tanner Kelly doubled down the third base line, scoring Rasbury. The double extended Kelly's on-base streak to all 32 games of the season.
Southeastern tied the game at three in the top of the fourth, and then took a 4-3 lead in the top of the fifth. Once again, the Gyrenes responded with a three-run inning to take a 6-4 lead. Tynan Shahidi gave Ave Maria the edge with a double to right field that score David Leonardi and Gonzalez, and then came in to score himself off a Coffey RBI groundout.
The Fire got one run back in the sixth and then took the lead in the seventh. With two runners in scoring position, Southeastern's Chayse Bryant ripped a hard-hit ball to third base that was knocked down by Coffey. Though the Bryant made it safely to first on the infield single, Coffey's defensive play kept the runners put on their respective bases and kept the Gyrenes up 6-5 for the time being. The next Fire batter, Stephen Cullen then gave the ball a long ride out to left field, and almost sent it out of the park, but James made a leaping catch over the wall to save the home run, and make a sacrifice fly that only scored one instead of a go-ahead grand slam. Though the lead was lost, good Gyrene defense on back-to-back plays kept the Fire from getting out to a bigger lead. An RBI single during the next at-bat brought home the go ahead run for SEU and put them up 7-6.
Following the single, the Gyrenes took out starter Horner. He tossed 6.2 innings, allowed seven runs, six of them earned, on 12 hits, two walks, and three strikeouts. Three strikeouts tie a season low for Horner in appearances where he tossed more than one inning. In February, Horner had an appearance when he only struck out two batters, but that was a one-inning start against the same Southeastern Fire. Matt Barragy came out of the bullpen to relieve him.
The score remained locked at 7-6 until the ninth inning, when the Fire brook away from the Gyrenes. After two quick outs, a single and back-to-back walks loaded the bases for the Fire. Head Coach Michael McCormick then went to bullpen and called on Justin David to get the final out. The Senior from St. Cloud, Florida, who has been on fire for the last month of the season, unfortunately had trouble locating the zone, issuing two straight walks and a wild pitch that put Southeastern up 10-6. Another walk ended the day for David, who in his 15 pitches thrown, only found the strike three times.
Coming back down four runs in the bottom of the ninth is a tall ask for any team, but the Gyrenes seemed up to the challenge, and they had proven earlier this season then can put up big innings. Kelly got the inning started with a lead off single. After a flyout and a groundout, Kelly came home to score off a Daniel Caylor double. Shahidi then brought Caylor in with a single to right field and brought a little life back into the crowd, now only down two. Coffey stepped up to the plate, representing the tying run, and battled hard, working a seven pitch at-bat. Unfortunately for the Gyrenes and their comeback, a well-placed pitch on the bottom, outside corner was called a strike, ending the rally a little sooner than Ave Maria had intended and giving the Fire a 10-8 win.
Despite the loss, Ave Maria played very well against the number one team in the country and held their own for the majority of the game.
With the loss, the Gyrenes fall to 24-8 on the season and 8-2 in conference play. Ave Maria finishes the month of March with a 11-4 record, their best month of the season yet.
Ave Maria and Southeastern will close out the series Saturday, April 1, with a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for noon with the second game set to start 30 minutes following the conclusion of the first. Both 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.
