AVE MARIA, Fla. — It was a tale of two games for the Gyrenes Friday afternoon and evening as the Ave Maria Baseball team split their first conference doubleheader of the season with the Warner Royals. In the first game, the Gyrenes had trouble generating any offense as they fell 6-1. However, the bats woke up in game two as Ave Maria won 12-10 with the help of three home runs the middle and bottom of the lineup.
The first game of the doubleheader, which was agreed on to be the shortened seven-inning ball game, started off as a pitcher's duel. Ave Maria's starter Chris Risola threw the first five innings and only allowed one run off five hits and one walk while striking out three batters. The lone run was scored in the third when the Royals hit into a double play with runners on the corners. The Gyrenes turned two, but the runner on third was able to score the first run of the game.
Ave Maria got the run back in the bottom of the fifth as Patrick Corley nearly manufactured the score himself. The graduate student drew a one-out walk and then stole second to get into scoring position. A throwing error from the Royals moved him over to third and then a wild pitch brought him home to tie the game.
Warner took over the game in the final two innings, bringing home two runs in the sixth and three runs in the seventh to win 6-1. The Gyrenes managed just three hits in the first game.
"I thought it was a heck of a ballgame," said head coach Rob Cooper about game one. "I mean, they opened it up [at the end]. We didn't play very clean. Like we didn't take care of the baseball very well. But you know we got a good start from Chris Risola, and it was good to see [Isaac Hines] back out there."
The second game was a wild ride to the finish as Ave Maria outlasted Warner 12-10.
The Gyrenes dominated the opening frames, getting out to a 5-0 lead in the first five innings. Ri'Shon Pearl opened the scoring with an RBI double in the first inning that brought home Anthony Fernandez. In the second inning, Michael Kelly skied a sacrifice fly out to right field that brought home Edwin Silverio Jr.
After a scoreless third, Silverio Jr. lit the scoreboard up again in the bottom of the fourth. With two runners on, the junior transfer from the University of Tampa cranked a ball over the left field wall for his first homer of the season. It was the third homer of the year for Ave Maria and the first from a batter not named Kyle Magdic.
On the mound, junior Jack McGlynn made his first start of the season and tossed five scoreless innings with just two hits allowed and one strikeout. The defense was solid behind McGlynn as well and did their job to preserve the shutout.
After Ave Maria domination through the first five innings, the game got crazy in the final four. Warner brought home four runs in the top of the sixth inning to make it a one-run ball game for the first time since the first inning.
Silverio Jr. responded with his second homer of the game, this time a solo shot to left to put the margin back at two. It was the first time this season that a Gyrene hit a multi-homer game. Last year, Jesus Gonzalez hit three, with the last one being against Oakland City in the NAIA Opening Round.
Warner did not back down though as the Royals scratched two more runs across the plate in the top of the seventh to tie the game at six.
In the bottom half of the frame, Ave Maria had their highest scoring inning of the season with five runs brought home. Catcher Jake LaVine started the scoring with an RBI single to right that brought home Joe Manesiotis. In the next at bat, Kelton Klemcke smacked an infield single to the shortstop that scored Karson Green. A couple of batters later with the bases loaded, Fernandez slashed a double down the third base line and into left field that cleared the bases put the Gyrenes up 11-8.
Ave Maria tacked on their final run of the game in the eighth inning with a third home run, this time off the bat of Green. The designated hitter also went over the left field wall and helped the Gyrenes double up the Royals.
To the Royals' credit, Warner did not take the hint that the Gyrenes were ready to end the game and brought home four runs in the top of the ninth. The final two runs were brought home off an RBI double that put the tying run at the plate. Christian Prull was able to get the final out of the game via the strikeout and secured the 12-10 win for the Gyrenes.
The winning pitcher for the Gyrenes was Caleb West, who toed the mound from the seventh inning through most of the ninth. It is the second win of the season for West.
"We rebounded for game two," said Cooper following the game. "We took some punches and kept showing up and just really, really proud of the effort of the guys, and, you know, you got to win some games ugly, and we won today ugly and that's better than pretty loss any day of the week."
With the split, Ave Maria's record moves to 5-4 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
The Gyrenes have secured at least a split in the first conference series and will now play for the win on Saturday. The series finale is set for February 21 with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. The game will be streamed live on the Urban Edge Network.
