AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Baseball team dropped their second-to-last doubleheader Friday afternoon to the Webber Warriors, losing the first game 8-1 and the second game 4-3. The Gyrenes led for a majority of the second game, but a late home run pushed the Warriors past Ave Maria.

The first game was all Webber as the Warriors brought home eight runs off 11 hits. The Warriors scored in five of the nine innings, striking in the first, second, fifth, sixth and seventh frames. Webber went deep twice with a solo homer in the fifth inning and a three-run blast in the seventh.

On the mound, Owen Johnson made his ninth start of the season, and despite giving up five runs off nine hits, he struck out seven, which is the most he has had against a Sun Conference opponent. Jeremy Fox followed him out of the bullpen and tossed the final three innings, striking out three batters of his own.

At the plate, the Gyrenes had trouble getting a rally started. Ave Maria's best chance was in the bottom of the first. After two quick outs to begin the game, Dakota Jones bounced a single over the pitcher's glove and into center field. It was the first of three hits for Jones in the game, tying a season-high for him. Jordan Crawford rolled a single up the middle as well, on which Jones was able to advance to third. Michael Kelly was then hit by a pitch to load up the bases. Unfortunately, a strikeout ended the frame and left three runners aboard.

The Gyrenes didn't get another runner to third base until the ninth inning. After a two-out single from Jimmy Coffey, Kyle Van Leire ripped a triple to right field that brought home the run. The RBI extra-base hit spoiled the shutout, which the Gyrenes have been able to avoid all season long. It was also the second triple of the year for Van Leire.

The Gyrenes had a much better second game and led for five of the innings.

Ave Maria opened the scoring in the first inning thanks to a couple of Webber errors. Van Leire got aboard via a throwing error from the Warriors' shortstop that pulled the first baseman off the bags.
Jones then smacked a single to right field that moved Van Liere to third. The right fielder tried to catch Van Leire at the corner bag, but again an errant throw allowed Van Liere to keep moving and he rushed home for the game's opening run.

The Gyrenes added some insurance in the second inning off an RBI double from Jesus Gonzalez that brought home Jimmy Coffey.

After the Warriors got a run back in the fourth inning, Ave Maria built back their two-run lead with an RBI single from Kelly that scored Van Leire.

On the mound, Hunter Cashero was dealing in his 13^th start of the season. Through the first five innings, Cashero threw just 54 pitches and had only allowed one unearned run of one hit and one error from the defense. He had also struck out two batters, including one in the fifth that ended the frame and stranded what would have been a tying-run on third before the Gyrenes got their insurance run in the bottom half.

However, the sixth inning is when the Warriors took their first lead of the night. With two runners on, Bryan Morales went deep over the right field fence for a three-run homer to take a 4-3 lead.

In the final two innings, Ave Maria had trouble getting a rally started now trailing for the first time. In the bottom of the seventh, Kyle Magdic dropped a two-out single into right field, but a groundout on the next at-bat ended the game.

Jones led the team at the plate with a season-high three hits in game one and two hits in game two for a total of five. He now has six multi-hit games on the year.

With the loss, Ave Maria falls to 25-23 overall and 13-13 in conference play. The Gyrenes slide down a spot in the Sun Conference standings and are now in fourth place a game behind the Keiser Seahawks who swept a doubleheader against New College. St. Thomas is a half game back of the Gyrenes at 13-14 after dropping two of their first three games to Southeastern. With two games left in the regular season, Ave Maria can finish either third, fourth or fifth in the standings heading into the conference tournament.

The final doubleheader of the regular season is Saturday, April 26. It is Senior Day for the Gyrenes, and they will honor the 13 players who will be walking at the conclusion of year. First pitches are set for 12 and 3 p.m. and both games will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network. Senior Day festivities will start around 11:20.