WALESKA, Ga. — The odds were heavily stacked against the Gyrenes Wednesday, having to win back-to-back games against two top 15 teams to stay alive in the tournament. But if there is one thing the Gyrenes love, it's adversity against ranked opponents. The Ave Maria Baseball team swept their doubleheader Wednesday to advance to the championship in the NAIA Opening Round. The day started with Ave Maria beating the No. 5 Reinhardt Eagles 11-4 and ended with them beating the No. 13 Loyola Wolf Pack 9-8.
In the first game, Ave Maria swapped dugouts from Monday in game one as the Gyrenes acted as the home team against host Reinhardt. The Eagles scored an early run in the opening frame, but the Gyrenes responded quickly.
In the bottom of the first, Michael Kelly drove a single down the right field line to bring home Jesus Gonzalez and knot the game up at one.
In the second and third innings, the Gyrenes got a pair of home runs from Sebastian Cabeza and Kyle Magdic. Cabeza's was a solo shot in the second inning while Magdic brought home three runs in the third. Both dingers were their third of the season.
Both teams tacked on a run in the fourth inning to keep it a four-run ballgame.
In the fifth, Ave Maria blew the game wide open off one swing of the bat from Kyle Van Liere. With the bases loaded, the grad student hammered a triple to left center field that cleared the bases. The Eagles tried to tag Van Leire out at third, but the ball was wild and bounced into the dugout, bringing him home with a little league grand slam.
On the mound, starter Cam Horner did a good job at controlling the game and limiting the Eagles' chances. Despite giving up 10 hits, only three runs scored on him in his 6.2 innings of work. It is the longest Horner has gone in a game this season and he got his seventh win of the season, bringing his career total up to 27.
Alex Nickler was first out of the bullpen for the Gyrenes, and he closed out the seventh inning for Horner, stranding three runners.
The Gyrenes added one more run in the bottom of the 8th with an RBI double from Tanner Kelly, his third hit of the game. That is the most hits in a game for Kelly since April 5.
Owen Johnson closed it out on the mound in the final two frames for the Gyrenes to secure the win and move the Gyrenes onto the first championship game against the Loyola Wolf Pack.
Ave Maria was again the home team for the second game of the day, but didn't get out to a hot start. The Wolf Pack scored five runs off four hits and two errors to take an early big lead.
However, this did not deter the Gyrenes one bit. Ave Maria got three runs back in the bottom of the first to get within two. The scoring started with an RBI single from Michael Kelly to bring home his brother Tanner Kelly and move Dakota Jones to third. Then with runners on the corners, the Gyrenes perfectly executed a double steal, and Jones stole home for another run. Crawford then brought home Michael Kelly with an RBI single.
The Gyrenes tied the game in the bottom of the second when the Loyola shortstop bobbled a ground ball from Magdic and Tanner Kelly Gonzalez scored.
Loyola got in front again in the third, but the Gyrenes answered again with their own run in the bottom half of the frame with a sacrifice fly from Van Liere to score Sebastian Cabeza.
The Gyrenes finally took the lead for the first time in the game in the fourth inning with an RBI triple from Michael Kelly to score Magdic.
Ave Maria added some insurance in the fifth inning with an RBI single from Jones and a sacrifice fly from Magdic, putting the Gyrenes up 9-6.
On the mound, Hunter Cashero made his second start of the Opening Round and went a lot deeper, tossing six innings with five strikeouts. Cashero got the win, bumping his record up to 4-9 on the year.
Loyola scored two runs in the seventh inning to get back within one of the Gyrenes, but Ryan Young shutdown the Wolf Pack, tossing a hitless 2.2 innings out of the bullpen. Young faced the minimum eight batters in his time on the mound, earning the first save of the tournament for the Gyrenes and his first save of the season.
Having comeback after falling down by five runs, Wednesday night was the largest comeback of the year for the Gyrenes.
"It's just the fight in this group. The mentality of being good enough to win. You are just seeing it play out on the field right now. It is just a credit to all of our guys who have literally, battered, bruised, backed up against the wall, they never gave up and they keep going and it's the reason why we are here in the first place and it's the reason why we have opportunity to go play Loyola again tomorrow," said interim head coach Pete Horner.
With the two wins, Ave Maria improves to 30-26, hitting 30 wins for just the third time in program history. The first two seasons were 2013 and 2023, both years that saw the Gyrenes make the Opening Round. Wednesday was the seventh doubleheader sweep of the season for Ave Maria, and the third of those seven to be over Top 25 teams.
The Gyrenes now move onto the second championship game with a trip to Lewiston on the line. It is the farthest any Ave Maria Baseball team has made it in the postseason, and they look to bring home the first ever Opening Round Trophy in school history.
First pitch is set for noon Thursday in Waleska, and the game will be streamed live on the Reinhardt YouTube channel by the Southeast Sports Network.
