HATTIESBURG, Miss. — The Ave Maria Gyrenes dropped their first game of the NAIA Opening Round, losing to the host William Carey Crusaders 11-2. It was a tough day at the plate for the Gyrenes who managed just four hits against the Crusader pitching staff.
Despite being the number one seed in the tournament and the host school, William Carey acted as the visiting team in Tuesday's game, and they took full advantage of batting first. Two runs in the first and three runs in the second gave the Crusaders an early 5-0 lead. The Gyrenes got a run back in the bottom of the third off a throwing error from the WCU catcher on a double steal that allowed Cole Rasbury to come in and score. Unfortunately, AMU could not capitalize from that momentum, and it stayed a 5-1 ballgame.
From that point on, things quieted down with just three runs scored between the two teams from the fourth inning to the seventh inning. Both squads scored a run in the fifth and William Carey got an extra run in the seventh. Ave Maria scored their lone run in that time period off some fancy baserunning from Tanner Kelly, who caught the Crusaders napping and scored on a wild pitch from second base. Kelly noticed the pitcher not rushing to the plate to cover on the wild pitch and rounded third with a full head of steam, sliding under the tag for the run.
The main factor in the Gyrene defense keeping the hot Crusader bats silent was Brandon Willoughby, who came out of the bullpen in the third inning. The sophomore from Speedway, Indiana, threw a season-high 4.2 innings and struck out a career-high eight batters.
Unfortunately, the Crusaders found their swing again in the eighth and brought home four more runs, getting the final score of 11-2. Ave Maria fell to 35-17 overall and 2-3 in the NAIA Opening Round all time.
With the lackluster offense, Tynan Shahidi's hit streak ended at 11 games. The senior transfer from Tennessee Tech hit the 11-game streak mark Monday for the second time this season, but could not find a way to extend it to 12 games, which would have been a season-high for any Gyrene.
Despite the loss, the Gyrenes are still very much alive in the Opening Round Tournament. To win the regional and move on to the World Series in Idaho, Ave Maria will have to sweep a doubleheader tomorrow. Their first game will be against the winner of the late game on Tuesday between the Texas Wesleyan Rams and the Houston-Victoria Jaguars. The Gyrenes beat the Rams Monday 20-8 in their first ever meeting. Ave Maria has never played the Jaguars before. First pitch for that game is set for 10 a.m. central/11 a.m. eastern. If the Gyrenes win that game, they will get a second crack at the Crusaders and will look to force a game three with them on Thursday. All of these games can be streamed on the Carey Sports Network and live stats and recaps can be found on avemariagyrenes.com.
