HATTIESBURG, Miss. — In a gigantic win, the Ave Maria not only broke a nine-year old national record, the Gyrenes made a statement that they are a force to be reckoned with in their 20-8 win over the #14 Texas Wesleyan Rams. The Gyrenes scored in seven of the nine innings and put-up crooked numbers in four of those innings.
The scoring started early and often for both teams with Ave Maria bringing home three in the top of the first and Texas Wesleyan responding with two in the bottom half. The Gyrenes loaded the bases in the top of the first and then brought all three runners home with an RBI single, sacrifice fly and an advance on a wild pitch.
Both teams added a run in the second and it stayed a one-run ball game after two innings. It was at this point when the Gyrenes blew the game wide open, scoring seven runs in the third inning to jump out to an 11-3 lead. Eleven batters stepped up to the plate and faced a total of three different Texas Wesleyan pitchers.
Following a Cole Rasbury RBI single with two on and double steal, Jimmy Coffey drew a walk to load the bases for the third consecutive inning. A hit by pitch and another walk brought home two more runs with two outs. That was the fifth walk issued to the Gyrenes in just 2.1 innings pitched by the Rams staff. Over the course of the game, the Rams issued 11 free passes to AMU hitters, tying the season record for most walks in a game for Gyrene batters. Ave Maria drew 11 walks against Thomas in the very first game of the season and again against Brewton-Parker in game two of their doubleheader back in February.
With the bases still loaded, Daniel Caylor stepped up to the plate and worked a really good at bat to a full count. On the payoff pitch, the senior blasted the ball just over the left field wall for the Gyrenes' first home run of the postseason and first grand slam of the season.
"I mean, honestly, I was just trying to get the job done," said Caylor. "Came in with runners in scoring position, you know, and got a good pitch to handle and got the barrel to it and the rest is history."
The rest is history since it had been 786 days since the Gyrenes last hit a grand salami. The last player to achieve that feat was Clayton Stanley against Warner on March 20, 2021. The dinger added the final four runs to the Gyrenes seven run total and gave AMU an eight-run lead.
Finally in the bottom of the third, the sixth half inning of the game, a zero was put up on the scoreboard as starter Cameron Horner threw two strikeouts and kept the Rams from getting a run.
In the middle three innings, both offenses quieted down a bit compared to the 14 combined runs scored in the first three innings. Only three runs crossed home plate between the two squads, with Texas Wesleyan adding a run in both the fourth and sixth innings and Ave Maria scoring one in the fifth.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Rams scored their run to make it 12-5, but were threatening for more with the bases loaded. With a 125 pitches under his belt through 5.1 innings, Cameron Horner made his way to the dugout and his brother Christian Horner came out of the bullpen to get the Gyrenes out of the jam. It only took the senior two pitches to do so, getting foul out and a ground out to end the inning.
Unfortunately, this is when the game came to an abrupt stop. Lightning was detected within an eight-mile radius of Milton Wheeler Field on the campus of William Carey University and the game entered a two and a half-hour delay as the teams waited out two storm cells that had formed on both sides of the ballpark. It was only the third game to be affected by weather this season for Ave Maria who have had very good luck with the weather this year.
It was 7:30 when the game finally picked up after all the lightning had cleared out and the field had been re-prepped. Despite the extended delay, the Gyrenes continued their dominance at the plate, bringing home another three runs in the top of the seventh. Jose Gonzalez brought home the first two runs with AMU's second homer of the game. Francesco Barbieri brought the final run home with an RBI single.
Following the Gyrenes' lead, the Rams brought home three runs themselves in an inning that lasted over 40 minutes after a lightning delay. Those were the last runs the Rams would get though as the Gyrene defense closed down in the final two frames.
The same cannot be said for the Rams defense as the Ave Maria bats stayed hot in the eighth and ninth. One run in the eighth and four in the ninth brought AMU's total to 20 runs, the second most runs in a single game in school history. The only time the Gyrenes scored more than that was March 26, 2010, when they beat Clearwater Christian 21-4.
While they came close to tying that school record, the Gyrenes did break a national record, stealing the most bases in an NAIA Opening Round game with 11 swipes. The previous record of 10 set by Georgia Gwinnett had stood for nine years since 2014. Eleven steals on the basepath is tied for the second most steals in a game in school history with the season opener against Thomas.
When asked about his team's performance, Head Coach Michael McCormick had a simple message: that's Gyrene Baseball.
"We just stuck to the brand of baseball we are capable of playing," said McCormick. "We stuck to our game plan: aggressive on the bases, hit balls hard that are in the zone, solid defense, and then our pitchers are going out there and attacking guys. Cameron Horner went out there and got hit around a little bit but what I love to see is that he kept throwing at guys and didn't back down, and I thought he got better as the game went on."
Horner did pitch well, striking out six batters in his 5.1 innings of work and earning his 12th win of the season, extending the school record he set in the Sun Conference Tournament.
Overall, there was a lot to smile about in the Gyrenes' postseason return and Ave Maria is not done making some noise.
"We got big goals," said Caylor. "I don't think you can count these boys out. We're going to come out, we're going to play our game and hopefully do some big things."
With the win, the Gyrenes improve to 35-16 overall and 2-2 all time in the NAIA Opening Round. The Gyrenes will take host William Carey, a winner over Houston-Victoria in the nightcap. That game is set for 1:30 central time first pitch, 2:30 eastern. The game will be streamed live on the Carey Sports Network and live stats and recaps can be found on the on avemariagyrenes.com.
