Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The final tune-up before the start of conference play didn't go quite as well as the Eckerd baseball team would have hoped, as the Tritons dropped a midweek contest to Ave Maria (Fla.), 6-3, on Wednesday evening.
Despite hitting the ball hard for most of the game, Eckerd (3-2) was limited to just four hits by four AVU pitchers. The Tritons had more than their share of hard-hit balls that went directly at Gyrene fielders, especially early in the game.
Ave Maria (4-4) plated two runs in the second inning after the first two batters of the inning reached against EC starter
Nick Alonzo. Max Nell's one-out double to centerfield brought both runners around before
Gardner Nutter worked out of the inning.
The score remained 2-0 before the Tritons finally broke through against AVU reliever Jake Davey in the seventh inning.
Tom Buonopane and
Matt MacMahon both drew walks to set the stage for
Nick Hill to deliver a two-out, game-tying double.
The Gyrenes, however, got those runs back in the top of the 8th inning after the first three batters recorded base hits capped by Rico Soto's two-run single. AVU added two more runs in the ninth after a pair of walks to the first two batters of the inning came back to haunt Eckerd as both runners came around to score.
EC threatened in the bottom of the ninth after Buonopane doubled to lead off the inning and came in on an infield single by Hill, but freshman Jesse Crosno got out of the inning without any additional damage.
Ranero got his pitching staff plenty of work heading into conference-opening weekend, using 11 different pitchers in the outing.
Gardner Nutter,
Kevin Plant,
Kevin Kane,
Mike Eagan,
Zach Hoppe,
Taylor Owens,
Jack Mahan and
Kelsey Lunde were all credited with scoreless innings.
Jared Habershaw (0-1) took the loss after giving up two runs on two hits in the eighth.
The Tritons open conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Barry starting on Friday at 6:00 PM.
