AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Baseball team played their first ever sole night game at Bowie's Ballpark Thursday night, fall to the RV Oklahoma Wesleyan Eagles 9-2. The Gyrenes played a night game as the second game of a doubleheader on Opening Day against Point, but Thursday was the first single, nine-inning night game at Bowie's Ballpark.
The Eagles jumped on the Gyrenes early, scoring three runs in the first inning and two runs in the third. Ave Maria kept the deficit at five for a while, but Oklahoma Wesleyan added two more runs in the seventh and eighth innings.
Outside of the runs being scored, Hunter Cashero struck out six batters in his third start for the Gyrenes. At 18 strikeouts on the year, Cashero is averaging six K's a start. Jeremy Fox was first out of the bullpen and tossed a season high three strikeouts in three innings. Paul Arencibia made his 2025 debut in the ninth and went three up, three down with one strikeout. As a staff, the Gyrenes struck out 10 batters.
At the plate, the Gyrenes were shut down by Oklahoma Wesleyan pitching. The Eagles' starter threw six innings and only allowed three hits and one walk while striking out eight batters. The Gyrenes got multiple runners on base in the fourth inning, but both were left stranded.
The Gyrenes were shut down just as much against the Eagles reliever in the seventh and eighth innings, but Ave Maria started to make some noise in the bottom of the ninth.
Dakota Jones got the inning started with lead off single followed by a Kyle Van Liere walk. During the next at bat, the Eagles' pitcher made a pickoff move towards first, the ball flew off target and rolled to the fence. Jones came into score on the error and Van Liere moved up to third.
A few at bats after the error, a Kyle Magdic RBI groundout brought home the second run for the Gyrenes.
With the loss, Ave Maria falls below .500 for the first time this season at 4-5.
The Gyrenes are back in action Friday night for game two of a three game set with Oklahoma Wesleyan. It is another single night game for the Gyrenes who are now 1-1 under the lights at Bowie's Ballpark. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.
