Box Score
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Offensive fireworks were set in motion as Ave Maria University held off the Eckerd College baseball program in extras to conclude a high-scoring non-conference battle on Monday night, 14-12 (10 innings).
Both teams combined for 26 runs on 31 hits in a back-and-forth game that featured scattered rain in the middle innings with increasingly gusting winds blowing straight out.
Freshman
Rowdy Andrews, freshman
Jake O'Rourke and senior
Lee Spinelle, each belted home runs for the Tritons (12-13, 1-8 SSC), who also received three doubles and three RBI off the bat from junior
Mike Vavasis.
In their second meeting of the spring, the Tritons had aspirations of evening the season series after the Gyrenes (24-10 overall) grabbed a 10-5 victory at the Turley Athletic Complex back on Feb. 18
Eckerd deployed a total of seven different pitchers in the three-hour 47-minute contest to try and slow down the opposition while Ave Maria ran out the same number of arms.
O'Rourke and Spinelle slugged their back-to-back towering solo home runs in an adventurous 10th inning with one out as the Tritons attempted to rally one last time.
EC freshman reliever
Jared Habershaw shut down the Gyrenes in a key spot in the top of the ninth frame with an inning-ending double play to force extras.
But a bases-loaded walk with a full count pushed ahead the go-ahead run for the visitors with one out in the 10th. The Gyrenes added an insurance run turning to the top of the order with a fielder's choice RBI for a two-run cushion.
AMU's Conor Sullivan then toed the right-field foul line with a line drive two-run triple and put the visitors up by four with the Tritons down to their final three outs.
Earlier, Andrews drove a 1-1 offering over the left-field fence for a two-run blast, his first of the season and his collegiate career. His homer put the Tritons on top 6-5 with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Tritons also rallied to tie again facing a three-run deficit in their half of the eighth inning with a two-run double by Vavasis and another game-tying run-scoring double in the next at-bat by
Tyler Abadal.
O'Rourke capped his monster game with a 4-for-6 effort with three runs scored. Spinelle, Abadal, sophomore
Mike Abraham and junior
Lincoln Dunham, each recorded two hits.
Sullivan finished 5-for-6 with four RBI and two runs scored for the Gyrenes. Ave Maria was aggressive on the basepaths early and finished with six stolen bases as a team.
Spinelle's second home run of the season bumped his team-leading batting average to .338 and Andrews isn't far behind at a .316 clip following his ninth extra-base hit tonight.
The Tritons will face Mansfield (Pa.) University tomorrow evening at the Turley Athletic Complex with a projected 7 p.m. first pitch.
