AUBURNDALE, Fla. — The Ave Maria Baseball team split their two games Friday in the East/West Challenge, taking down the reigning national champion Hope International Royals 15-6 and then falling to the British Columbia Thunderbirds 9-3.
The opening game against the Royals was a tight contest for the first six innings.
After falling behind 1-0, the Gyrenes brought home four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Davis Blair got the party started with a two-RBI double followed by a two-run blast from Michael Kelly. It was the first dinger of the year for the younger Kelly and third home run of the season for the Gyrenes.
Hope International got back within one run in the top of the second, making it 4-3.
Blair got on the stat sheet again in the third inning with his third RBI of the game, bringing home Tanner Kelly to give the Gyrenes a 5-3 lead.
That run wasn't safe however as the Royals scored two in the top of the sixth to tie the game at five.
The Gyrenes didn't give up though and blew the game wide open, putting up a crooked number in their final three innings at the plate, scoring a combined 10 runs.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Gyrenes brought home four runs to retake a 9-5 lead. Harrison Rossi brought home the first run with an RBI single, followed by a Kyle Van Liere two-RBI double and a Tanner Kelly sacrifice fly.
In the seventh, Rossi put the Gyrenes back on the board with a three-run home run. It was the first homer of his career at Ave Maria and put the Gyrenes up 12-5. It also made Friday the first multi-home run game of the season for the Gyrenes, a feat they did 16 times last season.
After Hope International got one run in the top of the eighth, the Gyrenes closed the scoring out in the eighth with RBI singles from Michael Kelly and Jimmy Coffey.
15 runs is a season-high for the Gyrenes and the most they have scored since March 24, 2024.
Game two was almost the exact opposite of game one for the Gyrenes.
Ave Maria was held hitless for the first seven innings while British Columbia jumped all over them at the plate.
The Thunderbirds scored three runs in the first and four in the second to quickly get out to a 7-0 lead.
UBC added runs in the sixth and seventh to get up to nine runs.
The Gyrenes finally got their first hit in the eighth inning, and started to get some late game magic in the ninth.
With runners on the corner and one out, Tanner Kelly put Ave Maria on the board with an RBI single that scored Van Liere.
Brian Williams kept the scoring going with an RBI single of his own that scored Michael Kelly.
After a strikeout, a single from Kyle Magidc loaded the bases for Michael Ciscar. The catcher fell behind early, but worked a full count walk to bring home a run and put the tying run in the hole for the Gyrenes.
Unfortunately, the magic ran out as a ground ball ended the game.
With the split, Ave Maria's record moves to 4-3 on the year. The East also extends its lead over the West to nine games to three. With only four games left in the challenge on Saturday, the East has officially clinched after tying the year before.
The Gyrenes have one more game left in the Challenge as they take on Arizona Christian Saturday, February 1. The Firestorm are currently 0-3 in the challenge. Last season, the Gyrenes beat ACU in Arizona as part of the East/West Challenge. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.
