LAKE WALES, Fla. - In their final Sun Conference doubleheader of the season, Warner University baseball team split with the Gyrenes of Ave Maria University on Saturday afternoon.  The Royals won game one 2-0 then lost game two 14-4.  The Gyrenes take the series 2-1 after winning Friday's series opener 10-3 and improve to 21-30 overall (8-18 TSC).  The Royals are now 15-33-1 overall and 6-19 in league play.

The Royals got a dominant pitching performance in game one from senior lefthander Dylan Heiring.  The southpaw twirled a five-hit shutout striking out nine Gyrene batters.  He retired the side in order three times in the nine inning contest as well.

After Heiring struck out the side in the top of the first inning, Randy Rodriguez led off the bottom half of the inning with a home run over the left field wall.  The Royals picked up a big insurance run in the fifth inning when Chris Mejia brought home Tomas Rivera on a sacrifice fly to centerfield. 

Heiring (2-7) took care of the rest going the distance to even the series at 1-1.

Rodriguez finished the game 2-for-4 with his second homerun of the season.  Dylan Gross reached base three times in the game including two infield hits.

Game two featured an offensive explosion with 26 hits combined for both teams.  Defensively however, the game featured nine errors, six by the Royals and three by the Gyrenes. 

The Gyrenes went to work early and held a 5-1 lead after the first two innings; Rodriguez scored the Royals' first run.  Jordan Pike and Broderick Rodocker both had RBI-singles in the fourth and fifth innings to narrow the Gyrenes' lead to 5-3.

A six-run seventh inning blew the game open for the Gyrenes s they took a commanding 11-3 lead.  Torri Pringle singled home the Royals' final run in the eighth inning.
Rodriguez picked up two more hits in game two, both doubles, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored.  Gross was 3-for-5 with a run scored as well.

Jose Hernandez (2-4) took the loss on the mound in game two.  The right hander went 6.1 innings with nine runs allowed (seven earned) on eight hits.

The Royals will close out the 2015 season on Tuesday, April 21, with a home game against NCAA-II Eckerd College.  First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Prior to the start of the doubleheader, the Royals and head coach Jeff Sikes took time to honor the senior class of 2015.  Anthony Dovale, Kevin Gregg, Dylan Gross, Dylan Heiring and Chris Mejia all were recognized for their contributions to the Warner baseball program.
 

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