AVE MARIA, Fla. — After 20 days away from the diamond, the Ave Maria Baseball team finally got to play a game Thursday evening as they hosted the Warner Royals in their Sun Conference opener. It was a low-scoring pitcher's duel between the Gyrenes and Royals, but clutch hits powered the Gyrenes to a 3-1 victory.
It took a few innings before the first runs were scored on Thursday, but it was the Gyrenes who were first to light up the scoreboard at Bowie's Ballpark. Following a leadoff single from Ri'Shon Pearl, senior Kyle Magdic hammered a ball over the fence in right center field that put Ave Maria in front 2-0. It was the second homer of the season for Magdic and his fifth in a Gyrene uniform.
Warner cut the lead in a half in the top of the sixth on odd play that the Gyrene defense wishes they got back. With a runner on first, Jhenzel Figueroa dropped a single to right field that moved Paddy Smith to third. Smith ran through a stop sign at third and got caught in a pickle at the plate. Unfortunately for the Gyrenes, an offline throw back to the plate from third during the pickle allowed Smith to score Warner's only run of the game.
Ave Maria added some insurance in the eighth with an RBI single from Pearl that scored Michael Kelly.
On the mound, the Gyrenes were dealing in the conference opener. Ryan Young made his third start of the season Thursday and tossed six solid innings with just the one run allowed off three hits, no walks and five strikeouts. Junior Caleb Niese tossed the final three innings, kept the Royals off the board and earned his second save of the season. Niese also struck out a season-high six batters in his three innings of work. His sixth and final strikeout was against the last batter of the game on a full count to secure the win for the Gyrenes.
"I'm just super proud of them. We haven't played in three weeks, and it's been nothing that the kids can do about it, just bad circumstances, and I told them after the game to watch how they have gone about practicing and making it game-like and treating it everyday to get better," said head coach Rob Cooper after the game. "That's hard to do. There are a lot of teams that are playing for stuff that don't treat practice that way. So, to watch them compete the way they did tonight. Great pitching on both sides, from both teams. Then we got some big hits and did enough good things. So, good win."
With the win, Ave Maria improves to 4-3 and starts conference play 1-0.
The Gyrenes continue the series with the Royals Friday, February 20, with a doubleheader. Game one's first pitch is set for 3 p.m. and game two will start around 6 p.m. Both games will be streamed live on the Urban Edge Network.
