AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Baseball team played their final two non-conference games of the regular season and got two wins against the Fort Lauderdale Eagles. The bats were alive for the Gyrenes in the doubleheader as they scored 16 across the two games off 20 hits. Ave Maria took the first game 7-1 and then followed it up with a 9-3 win.
Jesus Gonzalez set the tone for the day in the leadoff at-bat, going deep to right field for a solo home run. It is the fourth game this season Gonzalez has hit a leadoff dinger, doing so against Fisher, Keiser, Southeastern and now Fort Lauderdale.
In the third, Tanner Kelly and Kyle Magdic both slapped RBI singles to put Ave Maria up 3-0.
The Gyrenes added two more runs in the fourth inning, again off the long ball from Gonzalez. This time it was a two-run blast to left field and he brough Jimmy Coffey home with him. It is the second game this season Gonzalez has had a multi-home run game, with the first being March 5 against Fisher. He is just the fifth Gyrene to have multiple multi-homer games in a season.
Fort Lauderdale scratched their only run of the game in the fifth inning.
In the sixth the Gyrenes scored their final two runs of the game with an RBI fielder's choice from Gonzalez and an RBI walk from Dakota Jones. Gonzalez finished the game 2-for-4 with three runs scored and four RBI. Two other Gyrenes had multi-hit games with Kelly and Coffey also at two hits.
On the mound, Owen Johnson made his eighth start of the year and tossed four scoreless innings to get the win, improving his record to 4-2. Brandon Willoughby pitched the fifth inning and Isaac Hines cleaned up the last two frames.
Game two had just as fast a start as the first game with Ave Maria bringing home three runs in the opening frame. Kelly got the scoring started with an RBI single that brought home Gonzalez, who opened the game with a triple. That single from Kelly was his 249
th career hit at Ave Maria. He is two away from tying Alex Sanchez for the most career hits as a Gyrene and three away from passing. Kelly left the game in the third inning after falling awkwardly on a foul out, keeping his career total at 249.
Magdic brought Kelly home with an RBI double and Sebastian Cabeza brought him home with a single to put the Gyrenes up 3-0.
Fort Lauderdale made a little noise bringing home two runs in the second and one run in the third to tie the game at three.
The Gyrenes finally got back on the board with four runs in the fourth inning. The first two runs scored off a throwing error from the Eagles' catcher trying to get the out on sacrifice bunt at first. Kyle Van Leire then brought the next two home with a two-run bomb over the left field fence. It was the first home run of the season for Van Liere and his second as a Gyrene.
Ave Maria brought home two more runs in the sixth inning off yet another home run from Gonzalez. It was his third and final homer of the doubleheader and puts his season total at 11. He now is tied for the fourth-most home runs in a single season at Ave Maria, matching Jose Gonzalez and David Leonardi's 2022 seasons.
At the plate, Magdic led the team with three hits, recording his first multi-hit game of the season. Gonzalez and Cabeza also had multi-hit games, each with two.
On the mound, Jeremy Fox made his second start of the season and tossed the first three innings. The Gyrenes then brought in a new pitcher every inning to get reps in before the bye weekend. Alex Nickler pitched the fourth inning and got the win bring his record to 2-0. Luke Zmolik pitched the fifth and got two strikeouts, Matt Barragy pitched the sixth and got one strikeout and Paul Arencibia pitched the seventh and got one strikeout to end the game. As a unit, the Gyrene pitching staff finished the game with nine punch outs.
With the sweep, Ave Maria's record improves to 25-21. They finish their non-conference schedule with a record of 12-10.
The Gyrenes get the weekend off before returning to Bowie's Ballpark for their final conference series of the season. Ave Maria will play host to the Webber Warriors who are currently in first place in the Sun Conference. The Gyrenes are just two games back of the Warriors in fourth place, but Webber has four games in hand which they will make up over the weekend.
Like all conference series, it is back-to-back doubleheaders April 25 and 26. First pitches for the first twin bill are set for 3 and 6 p.m. and the games will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.
