Gyrenes Split with Clearwater Christian College

Carlos Padron hit a grand slam homerun in the 5th inning for his fourth homerun of the year. Ave Maria University scored a season high 21 runs in the winning effort over Clearwater Christian College.

Saturday, March 27, 2010
by Eddie Anderson

RSS

The Ave Maria University Baseball Team split a doubleheader Friday night with Clearwater Christian College in Clearwater, Florida. CCC won the first game 2-1 before the Gyrenes exploded with 15 hits in the nightcap to win 21-4.

AMU struck first in game one with 1 run in the second inning. Pete Lesniewski led off the inning with a double to left field. Alex Sanchez bunted over Lesniewski and Trace McDermott knocked him in with an infield single to the shortstop. In the bottom half of the inning Clearwater Christian led off with a homerun to tie the game at 1-1.

Clearwater’s five-hole hitter, Keen, hit a single to center field with 1 out in the seventh inning. Keen then stole second base. AMU Head Coach Shawn Summe came out of the dugout to dispute the call, but the call remained the same. It was the first of two controversial plays in the inning. Gyrenes’ starting pitcher, Stephen Ori, struck out a batter who reached first base as the ball went past AMU’s catcher, Gabe Loweree. Keen advanced to third base on the play. With 1 out, Keen was caught stealing at third base by a throw from Loweree that initiated another dispute by AMU as Clearwater’s runner collided with AMU’s third baseman Trace McDermott. With 2 outs, Clearwater singled in a run to end the game at 2-1.

Stephen Ori threw a gem, but received the loss. The righty from Texas threw 6 2/3 innings allowing just 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 4.

The Gyrenes answered Game 1 with a 21-4 blowout win, and banging out 15 hits in Game 2. Eleven AMU hitters hit safely in the game. Carlos Padron – 2-4, 5 RBI, 2B, Grand Slam; Gabe Loweree – 2-4, 3 RBI; Travis Isensee – 1-1; Edgardo Balentine – 1-1, 3 RBI; Brian Trymbiski – 1-2; Pete Lesniewski – 2-5, 3 RBI; Alex Sanchez – 1-1, 1 RBI; Justin Repullo – 1-2, 1 RBI; Trace McDermott – 1-2; Cody Muren – 1-1; Shanell Santiago – 2-2, 2 RBI.

The Gyrenes scored 12 runs in the top of the 5th highlighted by a Grand Slam missile off the bat of clean-up hitter Carlos Padron. Later in the inning, Edgardo Balentine ripped a pinch hit double to score Shanell Santiago, Cody Muren (who also had a pinch-hit single), and Pete Lesniewski.

AMU starting pitcher, Justin James, got the 5 inning complete game victory; his fourth win of the season. The hard throwing right hander struck out a season high 10 batters and allowed just 4 hits.

With the split, the Gyrenes stay at an even .500 with a 17-17 overall record.