AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Baseball team has remained even all year long and Saturday was no different. The Gyrenes split the day again in the sixth conference doubleheader of the season, taking game one 6-4 and dropping game two 6-3. In the reverse of Friday's doubleheader, the team that scored first in both of Saturday's game went on to lose.
St. Thomas scored the first three runs of game one, bringing home two in the first and one in the third. Walks were the main issue that led to those runs as the Bobcats got four free passes in those first three inning.
Ave Maria got all of those runs back and some in the fourth inning. With the bases loaded, Jimmy Coffey drew a four-pitch walk to bring home Jordan Crawford for the first run of the inning. In the next at bat, Kyle Magdic came in as a pinch hitter and rocketed a double to center field to bring home two more runs and tie the game at three. It was the first double of the season for Magdic and his second extra-base hit.
The go ahead run was brought in during the next at-bat with Jimmy Coffey, who started the rally with a walk, came into score on a passed ball.
St. Thomas tied it up in the top of the fifth inning, but that ended up being their last run of the game.
Ave Maria scored the winning run in the bottom of the fifth. After hitting his second double of the season, Dakota Jones was brought into score on a throwing error from the Bobcat's third baseman allowed Davis Blair to reach safely.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Gyrenes added some insurance with an RBI single from Tanner Kelly bringing home Coffey.
On the mound, Luke Zmolik got his second win of the season, coming in from the bullpen in the fourth inning. He tossed four innings, gave up just one unearned run off three hits and no walks while striking out two batters.
Matt Barragy pitched the ninth inning and got his second save of the year allowing just one walk while striking out two batters.
Saturday's first game was the third three-run comeback of the season for the Gyrenes.
In the second game, Ave Maria opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning but couldn't hold on to the lead. With the runners on the corner, Jesus Gonzalez came into score on a fielder's choice as the Bobcat defense couldn't complete a double play to end the inning.
St. Thomas tied the game in the third inning and then took the lead with a three-run fourth. The Bobcats rallied off nine hits across the second, third and fourth innings, making life difficult for the Gyrenes.
In the bottom of the fifth, Crawford smashed a solo homer over the right field fence to bring Ave Maria back within two runs. It is the fifth home run of the season for Crawford, tying him with Gonzalez, Tanner Kelly and Michael Kelly for the most on the team. Ave Maria is tied with Southeastern for most players with five or more home runs this season in the Sun Conference.
The Bobcats immediately responded with a run in the top of the sixth to build back the three-run lead.
A similar situation happened in the eighth and ninth innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Michael Kelly ripped a single to right field that Harrison Rossi was able to score from second on. The deficit was back to two, but then the Bobcats hit their lone home run of the series to get back up by three.
Ave Maria made a little noise in the bottom of the ninth putting runners on the corners to bring the tying run to the plate but couldn't bring any of them home.
Saturday was the sixth conference doubleheader split of the season for the Gyrenes. The last Sun doubleheader Ave Maria didn't split was April 26, 2024, when the Gyrenes took both games from the Warner Royals to punch their ticket to the conference tournament.
The split moves Ave Maria's record to 16-15 on the year and 6-6 in conference play. Thanks to a multitude of splits around the conference, the Gyrenes are in a four way tie for third place in the Sun Conference.
The Gyrenes are on the road for the next 10 games of the season. The road stand starts Friday, March 28, in Miami Gardens as they play a doubleheader with the Florida Memorial Lions. FMU dropped three of four to Keiser over the weekend to fall to 3-5 on the year and are tied with Webber for seventh in conference. First pitches are set for 12 and 3 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.
