LAKE WALES, Fla.- The Ave Maria Gyrenes scored five runs in the ninth inning to push past the Warner Royals and win 11-6. The final three innings of the game saw great hitting and even better pitching to deliver the Gyrenes' 10th conference win of the season.

Tied at six after eight innings, the Gyrenes looked to get the job done in the top half of the ninth inning and record their second last at-bat road win of the season, and they did just that. Two walks and a single loaded the bases with one out for Connor James, who smacked an RBI single to bring home Daniel Caylor and give Ave Maria a 7-6 lead. Cole Rasbury was then hit by a pitch to bring home another run, followed by an Axel Melendez RBI groundout to put AMU up 9-6. 

The final two runs came into score when Tanner Kelly reached first due to an error by the Royals' shortstop. With that error, combined with two more hits earlier in the game, Kelly extended his record-setting on-base streak to all 37 games of the season.

While the bats were hot late in the game for Ave Maria, the pitching was even hotter. Chris Cuppini came out of the bullpen in the sixth inning when the game was tied at six and threw brilliantly for the remainder of the night. The senior transfer from Young Harris pitched the final 3.1 innings and did not allow a single hit, striking out four batters. Cuppini kept his team in a position to win for the final three innings by keeping the Royals at bay. Cuppini got the win for the Gyrenes, improving to 3-0 on the year.

Ave Maria scored their first six runs early in the ballgame. Down 2-0 in the top of the third, the Gyrenes rattled off four runs, featuring a run scored on a wild pitch, a Daniel Caylor RBI single and a two-run blast from Tynan Shahidi. The bomb was Shahidi's second home run of the season, with the first coming in February against Ohio Christian.

In the fourth inning, Jose Gonzalez gave the Gyrenes a 5-2 lead off an RBI single, and Kelly made it 6-3 with an RBI double in the sixth.

Cameron Horner got the start for Ave Maria Friday, and despite allowing two early runs in the first, settled down and kept Warner scoreless for the next three innings. The Royals tacked on a run in the fifth and then got three runs in the sixth, erasing the decision from Horner, who is looking to become just the second Gyrene in school history to win 10+ games in a season. He will have to wait until next week, however, when the Gyrenes travel to play the Keiser Seahawks.

With the win, the Gyrenes improve to 28-9 on the year and 10-3 in conference play. It is the first time since 2013 that the Gyrenes have won 10+ conference games. Ave Maria is also one more win away from clinching a spot in the Sun Conference Tournament.

Entering the series, the Gyrenes needed to beat the Royals, who are sitting on the outside looking in right now in seventh place, twice to book their first ticket to the postseason since 2013. Now the Gyrenes just need one more win in Lake Wales to make that happen. They will get two attempts tomorrow when they play a doubleheader against the Royals to finish up the series. First pitch is scheduled for noon with the final game set to start at 3:30 p.m. Both games can be streamed on the Sun Digital Network and game recaps can be found at avemariagyrenes.com.