HATTIESBURG, Miss — The Ave Maria Gyrenes hung on to beat the Houston-Victoria Jaguars 4-3 Wednesday and move on to the championship game against host William Carey. It was a team win for the Gyrenes who improved to 2-1 in the Opening Round.
After two scoreless innings to start the game, Ave Maria, who was acting as the visiting-team, struck first with a run in the third. With Jimmy Coffey standing on second, Jose Gonzalez ripped a single down the third base line bringing home Coffey to put the Gyrenes up 1-0.
Ave Maria kept the scoring going in the fourth inning with a weird sequence of events. Francesco Barbieri got the inning started by beating out a dribbler back to the mound for a leadoff infield single. After a stolen base put him on second, Cole Rasbury cranked a ball to right center field into the gap which brought home Barbieri and saw him standing on second. However, the celebration was undercut by the umpire indicating Rasbury didn't touch first, which the Jaguars responded to my tagging first base and therefore calling Rasbury out. The run still counted but emptied the bases with two outs in the inning.
Houston-Victoria got a run back in the bottom of the fourth, but the Gyrenes still led the game 2-1 after four innings.
In the top of the fifth, the Gyrenes put two more runs on the board with another big hit from Gonzalez. The sophomore from Hialeah, Florida, smacked a double to left center, bringing home Eric Havner, who was courtesy running for the catcher Michael Signorelli, and Tanner Kelly for his second and third RBIs of the game. It was Gonzalez's 24th multi-hit game of the season and his 13th multi-RBI game of the year and he was the only Gyrene to finish Wednesday's game with either achievement.
On the mound, Chris Cuppini was cruising in his fourth start of the season. Through the first five innings, the senior only allowed one run off four hits, one walk, and struck out four batters. Cuppini got into a little bit of jam in the sixth, having the bases get loaded on him and then walking in a run, but Justin David came in from the bullpen to keep the Gyrenes in front. A fielder's choice brought in one more run for the Jaguars, but a strikeout ended the inning and kept Ave Maria on top 4-3.
From there, both defenses hunkered down and kept the score 4-3. David sailed through the next two innings, only facing one more batter than the minimum six, issuing a walk in the seventh inning.
In the ninth, the Gyrenes threatened to add some insurance but couldn't get anybody home and went into the bottom of the ninth in a loser go home game with just a one run lead. The first Jaguar batter singled up the middle and represented the tying run. A sacrifice bunt moved him to second and then a fly out tagged him up to third, 90 feet away from tying the game. With two outs and a chance to go to the championship game, David pitched a good at bat and got the UHV batter to pop-up to left field where Barbieri made the catch to end the game.
Cuppini earned his fourth win of the season and David got his fourth save of the year. Ave Maria improved to 36-17 on the year and 2-1 in the opening round.
"I think we were just locked in from start to finish," said Gonzalez following the win. "Its just about the little things. Get a guy on base, move him over, and bring him in. You know, if we focus on that, I think we are in a position to move on."
Reflecting on the game and the season as a whole, Head Coach Michael McCormick said one of the reasons for this team's success is how well the guys have bonded with each other. "I know it sounds cliché," he said, "but, I think we have a very tight group to where it goes beyond baseball. These guys are brothers, and it is something that has just made this season more enjoyable because of that."
Gonzalez can vouch for that.
"A lot of the new guys, even me last year being the new guy, I've been welcomed here like they knew me all my life and a lot of the new guys this year can attest to that and say the same thing. We just pick each other up every time and everyone just treats each other like brothers, so I think that is what I love about this."
Following the win, the path to Idaho is clear for the band of brothers: beat William Carey twice. The Gyrenes fell to the Crusaders Tuesday in the first semifinal game, 11-2, but Coach McCormick isn't fazed by the challenge. Short-term memory and taking it one game at a time were his two keys heading into the championship games.
The first game was supposed to be played Wednesday afternoon but has been pushed to Thursday and will pick up already in progress, starting at 11 a.m. central, 12 eastern. If the Gyrenes win that game, they will play WCU again about an hour after the competition of the early game. Both games can be streamed on the Carey Sports Network and live stats and recaps can be found on avemariagyrenes.com.
