LAKELAND, Fla. —- After a very competitive, back-and-forth game one with the Southeastern Fire, the Gyrenes had a tough time manufacturing runs in the doubleheader on Friday. The Fire won both games 8-2 and 6-2 respectively.

Game one was the designated seven-inning game of the four game set. SEU scored all eight of their runs before the Gyrenes got on the board. The big inning for the Fire was when they scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth, doubling their total up to eight.

In the sixth inning, the Gyrenes scored their two runs off a David Leonardi two-run blast. For Leonardi, that's his 14th dinger of the year, tying the single-season record he set last year. As a team, it was the Gyrenes' 51st home run, which is now the most in a season in program history.

In the late game of the twin-bill, Southeastern again scored all of their runs before the Gyrenes crossed home plate.

SEU brought home a run in the third, fourth, and fifth innings and brought home the final three runs in the sixth.

In the top of the ninth, the Gyrenes avoided the shutout with two runs. Brian Williams brought home David Leonardi for the first run with an RBI groundout, then a sacrifice fly from Michael Kelly scored Harrison Rossi.

Tanner Kelly was hit by a pitch in game one and singled in game two to extend his on-base streak to all 36 games of the season.

With the two losses, Ave Maria falls to 17-19 and 4-11 in conference play. The Gyrenes drop behind Keiser to sixth place in the standings, but thanks to Florida Memorial also losing both games today, remain in the postseason picture.

Ave Maria has one more match with the Fire Saturday with the first pitch set for noon. The Gyrenes then come back home for a weekend series with the Keiser Seahawks April 19-20. All games can be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.