AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Baseball team opened their weekend series against the No. 22 Keiser Seahawks Thursday afternoon with a 12-6 win. The Gyrenes capitalized on multiple errors from Seahawks early on to take a commanding lead they did not relinquish.
Ave Maria opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning. With two runners on, Jake LaVine reached on a Seahawk error and brought home Michael Kelly and Kyle Magdic. It was the second error of the inning for Keiser as Magdic also reached on a miscue from the Seahawks.
In the second frame, Keiser responded with a one out home run that tied the Gyrenes 2-2. It wound up being the only tie Keiser worked for the whole ball game.
The Gyrenes immediately responded in the bottom of the second. Again, with two runners on, the Seahawks committed a third error, allowing Magdic to get aboard and Chris Myers to come home and score. Since there were two outs on the board, the play would have ended the frame, but the error extended the inning and brought Ri'Shon Pearl to the plate. On the second pitch of the at bat, Pearl unloaded on a ball and sent it screaming over the fence in left center field. It was the first homer of the season from Pearl and put the Gyrenes up 6-2.
The Gyrenes utilized the long ball again in the third inning with Joe Manesiotis notching his first homer of the year as well. The solo blast from the graduate student put the Gyrenes up 7-2.
Keiser got a run back in the top of the fifth inning, but it was immediately responded to by the Gyrenes in the bottom half of the frame.
After drawing a walk in the second inning, sophomore Myers got his first hit of the season with an RBI triple to right field that brought home Manesiotis. The three-bagger was also the first extra-base hit of Myers' career, who logged two singles in 2025. Myers scored during the next at bat on a wild pitch.
AMU scored their final three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. LaVine brought home the first run with a sacrifice fly that scored Kelly. The final two runs were plated by a double from Michael Ciscar.
Keiser put three runs on the board in the top of the ninth, but it was not enough to dig themselves out of the nine run hole. A bases loaded double play ended the game in favor of the Gyrenes.
A six-run win is the largest victory over Keiser since 2014 for the Gyrenes.
On the mound, Ryan Young made his fifth start of the season and pitched four innings while allowing just two runs off three hits. The junior from Texas also struck out three batters. Young did not pitch the required five innings to get the decision, so the win went to Jack McGlynn who was first out of the bullpen. McGlynn tossed three innings and allowed just one run off three hits. McGlynn punched out a season-high five batters. Caleb Niese was next out of the bullpen and struck out four batters which accounted for all four outs he recorded in his 1.1 innings of work. Isaac Hines closed out the game for the Gyrenes, who finished the contest with 12 strikeouts as a team.
With the win, Ave Maria improves to 9-7 overall and 6-3 in conference play.
The series continues Friday, March 20, with a double-header. The first game will start at 3pm with the second game set for 6 p.m. Both games will be streamed on the Urban Edge Network.
