AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Baseball team won both games of a doubleheader Wednesday to complete the sweep of the Fisher Falcons in their midweek non-conference series. The bats remained hot for the Gyrenes as they won the first game 9-3 and mercy-ruled the Falcons 10-0 in eight innings in the second game.
The opening game of Wednesday's doubleheader was a scheduled seven inning game. The Gyrenes got all of their scoring done in the first four innings and cruised through the rest of the game.
Tanner Kelly got the fireworks started early for the Gyrenes, lacing a triple to center field. Jordan Crawford brought him home on the next at bat with an RBI single.
The second inning was the biggest frame of the day for the Gyrenes, bringing home four runs. Harrison Rossi brought home the first two runs with a double that scored Jimmy Coffey and Kyle Van Liere. A couple of at bats later, Kelly flied a ball out to deep center field that bounced off the glove of the centerfielder and over the wall for a two-run bomb. It was his fourth homer of the season, and it put the Gyrenes up 5-0.
The home runs kept coming in the third inning with Dakota Jones blasting a ball over the right field fence, bringing home another two runs.
The Gyrenes scored their final two runs in the fourth inning with an RBI single from Davis Blair that scored Tanner Kelly. Blair came home a few at bats later on a fielder's choice hit by Michael Kelly.
As good as the bats were in the first game, the Gyrenes were even better on the mound. Ryan Young made his first start as a Gyrene and sat down the first 11 batters he faced in order, throwing 3.2 perfect innings. With two outs in the top of the fourth, Young allowed his first baserunners on back-to-back walks to break up the perfect game. Ave Maria went to the bullpen after the walks and Alex Nickler got the job done in the fourth. Young did not give up a hit in his 3.2 innings of work, which is the longest no-hit bid of the season for a Gyrene pitcher.
Nickler held the Falcons hitless for another inning, but Fisher finally got a hit in the sixth inning. The Falcons ended up getting three hits and brought home three runs, but the Gyrene lead was never in danger.
Matt Barragy pitched the final 1.2 innings as closed out the game for the Gyrenes.
Tanner Kelly led the team in hits, going 3-for-4 at the plate. He was a double shy of the cycle, flying out in his fourth and final at-bat, meaning the Gyrenes have yet to have a player collect all four types of hits in a game.
The second game was more of the same at the plate and on the mound for the Gyrenes.
In the very first at bat in the bottom of the first, Jesus Gonzalez went deep to right field for a solo shot to open the scoring.
The Gyrenes brought home three more runs in the second inning. Coffey dropped a single into left field with Van Liere on first base. Van Liere made his way to third, but then the Fisher left fielder over shot the third base in attempt to throw out Van Liere. The ball rolled towards the Gyrene dugout and Van Liere came into score.
Two at bats later, Gonzalez blasted his second dinger of the game to bring home him and Coffey and put the Gyrenes up 4-0. It was the first multi-home run game for a Gyrene since April 26, 2024, when Luis Rodriguez-Gallo hit two home runs against Warner.
Two more runs were tacked on in the third with a two-RBI single from Sebastian Cabeza.
The Gyrenes went quiet for a few innings before getting the final four runs they needed to secure the mercy rule win. Jesus Gonzalez got his fourth RBI of the game with single that brought home Coffey in the seventh.
A freak rain storm rolled into Ave Maria in the eighth inning, halting play for a few moments. However, just as quickly as it popped up, the storm ended and the Gyrenes were back to playing ball.
Ave Maria loaded the bases in the eighth inning to put the mercy-ruling run on first. Coffey delivered the game-winning knock with a bases-clearing double to right center field that ended the game at 10-0.
Coffey had the best day at the plate in game two, going 4-for-5 with three RBI and two runs. The senior registered a hit in every game of the series, bumping his hit streak to 14 games, which is tied for the fourth longest in program history.
On the mound, Hunter Cashero tossed a great three innings to start, and then the Gyrenes went to the bullpen to get as many guys in as they could. Jeremy Fox got the win for the Gyrenes, tossing the next three innings and striking out a season-high four batters. Brandon Willoughby and Isaac Hines each tossed an inning at the end of the game.
With the win Ave Maria is back over .500 at 12-11. The Gyrenes also improve to 6-4 at home.
