AVE MARIA, Fla. — Ave Maria split a doubleheader with the University of Fort Lauderdale Eagles, losing game one 13-7 and winning game two 7-0. Both games saw great starts the Gyrene pitching staff, game one just fell off the rails at the end leading to the AMU loss.
Ave Maria scored first for the 20th time this season, striking in the opening frame. With two runners on, Luis Rodriguez-Gallo blasted his seventh homer of the season to put the Gyrenes on top 3-0.
Ave Maria added another run in the second, with Tanner Kelly hitting an RBI single to bring home his brother, Michael Kelly.
Fort Lauderdale got a run in the fourth, but the Gyrenes answered with another three-run inning. Michael Kelly got the scoring started with a solo shot over the tall wall in right field. It was his fourth home run of the season, and the Gyrenes' 44th of the year.
A few batters later, Davis Blair brought in a run with an RBI single to right field that scored Tanner Kelly. Connor James followed that up with an RBI groundout to bring home Francesco Barbieri and give the Gyrenes a 7-1 lead.
At the top of the game, Ave Maria starter Sean Hogan was dominating the Fort Lauderdale batters. The first six outs recorded were all strikeouts by the senior transfer. Through the first four innings, he recorded eight strikeouts, and only allowed one run on three hits.
In the fifth, however, things started to fall apart. UFTL began their comeback with a two-run homer.
In the sixth, the Eagles loaded the bases and then tied the game in just one swing of the bat with a grand slam. Fort Lauderdale did all of this before Ave Maria could record an out. Isaac Hines came in to pitch for Hogan after the grand slam, keeping Hogan from being the pitcher of record.
Hines had trouble with the Eagles as well. UFTL brought in three more runs in the frame to take a 10-7 lead with just two more innings left to go in the shortened doubleheader game. Seven runs in one inning are the most allowed by the Gyrene pitching staff this season.
Ave Maria got baserunners in the bottom half of the inning to try in comeback, but they were left stranded on the basepaths.
In the seventh, UFTL brought home three more runs to get up to 13. In the bottom half, Ave Maria got two baserunners again, but still couldn't bring them home, ending the game.
Fort Lauderdale scored the final 12 runs of the game and came back down six. That is the largest lead surrendered by the Gyrenes this season.
Ave Maria didn't dwell on the loss though and came back determined in game two. In almost an identical day to their Saturday doubleheader against the Florida Memorial Lions, the Gyrenes followed up a blown-lead loss with a shutout win and a complete game from their pitcher.
Ave Maria got their first three runs in the third inning. Rodriguez-Gallo, who swapped from catcher to designated hitter for game two, brought home the first two runs with an RBI double down the right field line. He came into score a couple of batters later, when Michael Kelly reached on an error by the second basemen.
The Gyrenes got the rest of their runs in the fifth inning. Once again it was Michael Kelly, this time singling to get on base, bringing home Rodriguez-Gallo and Tanner Kelly. After a Cole Rasbury single put runners at the corners, James reached on a throwing error from the Eagles, which allowed Kelly to score. Rasbury scored the final run when he crossed home plate following a Kyle Van Liere infield single.
On the mound, Blake Albritton made his first official start of the season. He was supposed to start game two of a doubleheader with Mount Marty on March 5 in the RussMatt Baseball Invitational but was rained out after recording the first two outs.
Today, Albritton was almost untouchable to the Eagles. The sophomore from Pinellas Park pitched the first complete game of his collegiate career and the fourth of the season for the Gyrenes. Albritton also kept the Eagles off the board for the team's fifth of the season. Overall, Albritton finished with a line of seven scoreless innings, three hits, one walk and eight strikeouts, also a career high. By Bill James' game score metrics, it was the best start of the season for the Gyrenes with a game score of 80.
With the split, Ave Maria's record improves to 15-13 and finishes off the month of March over .500, going 10-8. The Gyrenes now get nine-day break before returning back to Bowie's Ballpark for a non-conference weekend series with the Point Skyhawks. This will be the first ever meeting between the Skyhawks and the Gyrenes on the baseball diamond. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Friday, April 5, and will finish off the series Saturday, April 6. First pitch is scheduled for noon with game two set to start around 3 p.m. All three games can be streamed on the Sun Digital Network.
