LAKE WALES, Fla. — The Ave Maria Baseball team opened conference play Friday with a doubleheader against the Warner Royals. Ave Maria won the first game 7-2 but dropped the second game in seven innings 2-1.
Warner opened the scoring with a run in the first inning, but the lead did not last long.
In the top of the third, the Gyrenes brought home two runs to take the lead. With a runner on second, Jesus Gonzalez ripped a double to right field to bring home Jimmy Coffey and tie the game. Gonzalez advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a fielding error by the Royal's first baseman.
In the fifth inning, Gonzalez hit his second double of the game with two outs to extend the inning. He was brought home on yet another error by the Warner defense, this time from Royal's second baseman. It was the second game this season Gonzalez has recorded a multi-extra base hit game.
Up 3-1, the Gyrenes doubled their run total in the seventh on a three-run blast from Jordan Crawford. It is the second homer of the season for Crawford and the 10
th of the year for Ave Maria.
Crawford's blast brought home Gonzalez and Tanner Kelly, who got aboard via and error and a single, respectively. The Warner defense committed three errors in the first game and the Gyrenes made them pay for it with five unearned runs.
In the eighth inning, Ave Maria scored their final run with an RBI single from Harrison Rossi bringing home Dakota Jones.
On the mound, sophomore Owen Johnson made his second start of the year and tossed eight innings. It is the most frames tossed by a Gyrene this season. Johnson allowed seven hits, but most of them were stranded with only two runs allowed. Johnson also struck out four batters and only allowed one walk. He got the win bringing his record to 1-1.
Isaac Hines cleaned things up in the ninth. After a leadoff single, Hines got a flyout then a double play to end the game.
Game two was much tighter than the opener, with Warner winning 2-1.
Hunter Cashero got the call in the second game, making his fifth start of the season. In a declared seven-inning game, Cashero tossed all six innings for the Gyrenes, earning his second complete game of the season. The only blemishes were in the second and fourth innings, with the Royals bringing home runs off an RBI groundout and fielder's choice, respectively.
Outside of those two runs, Cashero threw a good game with seven strikeouts and no walks.
However, unlike the first game, the Gyrene bats were quiet, and two runs was all the Royals needed to win.
Ave Maria had their best inning at the plate in the final seventh frame. Down 2-0, Caleb Metzen started the rally with a pinch-hit leadoff double. Back-to-back groundouts only got him to third and put the Gyrenes' backs against a wall. Sebastian Cabeza kept the inning alive with an RBI single to bring home Metzen and cut the lead in half. Coffey followed that up with another single moving the tying run into scoring position. Ave Maria was feeling good, but the comeback was cut short with a lineout ending the game.
With the split, the Gyrenes' record moves to 6-9 overall and 1-1 in conference play. Ave Maria and Warner are the only SUN Conference teams playing league games right now and are tied for first in the conference.
The series concludes Saturday, February 22, with another doubleheader against the Royals. It will be the fourth and fifth games in a row against Warner for Ave Maria. First pitches are set for noon and 3 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.
