AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Baseball team took one of the two games they played Friday against the Florida Memorial Lions. The Gyrenes took game one 9-2 in the afternoon before falling 10-6 in evening game.
In the first game, the Gyrenes jumped out in front of the Lions early, plating two runs in the bottom of the first. During just the second at-bat, Anthony Fernandez smacked a double to center field to bring home Michael Kelly. Fernandez was brought home a couple of at-bats later on a wild pitch from the FMU starter.
Ave Maria added three more runs in the bottom of the third. With two on, Joe Manesiotis doubled to right field, bringing home Kyle Magdic and moving Ri'Shon Pearl to third. Pearl scored off a passed ball during the next at-bat, and a sacrifice fly brought home Manesiotis to put Ave Maria up 5-0.
Right-hander Jack McGlynn tossed a solid four innings to start the game but ran into a little trouble in the fifth. Florida Memorial brought home two runs in the frame and still had two more runners on base, putting the tying run at the plate. Ave Maria reached into the bullpen and brought out Christian Prull, who pitched the night before and earned his first save of the season. After a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases, Prull struck out the next Lion to end the frame and strand the runners.
The Gyrenes brought home four runs in the home half of the inning to erase any thoughts of a Florida Memorial comeback. Kyle Magdic got the inning started with a solo shot to left field that traveled 410 feet according to Trackman. It was his seventh homer of the season.
AMU continued to hit and Karson Green brought home the next run with a sacrifice fly that scored Pearl. The final runs came off the bat of Patrick Corley. The grad transfer got a hold of ball and pushed over the left field fence for not just his first home run as a Gyrene, but his first ever collegiate home run.
Prull cruised through the sixth and seventh innings as the Gyrenes won the game and secured at least a series split.
McGlynn got the win and improved to 3-2 on the year as he tied his season-high of five strikeouts. Prull earned his second save in as many games, tossing the final 2.1 innings and striking out five batters as well.
Game two was nearly the opposite of game one as it was Florida Memorial who jumped all over the Gyrenes instead.
The Lions opened the scoring with a run in the first, four runs in the second and a run in the third to take a 6-0 lead.
The Gyrenes battled back and plated five runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth. Ave Maria sent nine hitters to the plate in the frame, getting RBI singles from Manesiotis, Jake LaVine and Corley. A wild pitch brought home Manesiotis, and a Chris Myers sacrifice fly brought home Omari Swinton, who courtesy ran for catcher LaVine. That left Corley on third representing the tying run. He was unfortunately left stranded there as Florida Memorial finally logged their third out and preserved their lead at 6-5.
FMU tacked a run in the fifth and sixth innings to retake a three-run lead.
Ave Maria got a run back in the sixth with an RBI single from Kelly that scored Swinton, but that was the last time the Gyrenes would light up the scoreboard.
Florida Memorial scored a run in the seventh and ninth innings to take a four-run lead. He Gyrenes got two baserunners on in the bottom of the ninth but couldn't complete the comeback as the Lions won their first game of the series.
Walks were the main issue for the Ave Maria pitching staff in game two, as they issued a season-high 13 free passes. Of the 10 runs that scored for the Lions, four of the runners got aboard with a walk.
With the doubleheader split, Ave Maria's record moves to 12-18 overall and 9-14 in conference play. The Gyrenes hold onto to sixth place in the Sun Conference standings, the last spot to get into the conference tournament, and are two games ahead of the Lions in seventh place with five games remaining on the schedule.
The series concludes Saturday as the Gyrenes try to lock up the final conference tournament spot and win their second conference series of the season. Saturday is also Senior Day as the Gyrenes honor the seniors on the 2026 roster. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on the Urban Edge Network.
