LAKE WALES, Fla. – The Royals from Warner University are ready for their weekend series with conference opponent Ave Maria. The Royals and Gyrenes are scheduled for 3 games in 2 days, all games set to be played for 9 innings because they are "conference" games.
The 1
st game is scheduled for Friday at 3:00 PM and the next 2 games will be played back-to-back on Saturday, game 2 of the weekend series will start Saturday morning at 11:00 AM and game 3 will be played following the completion of game 2.
The Royals are coming into their weekend series with a 3-2 record and are riding a 3 game win streak after sweeping the Florida National Conquistadors at home last weekend.
The Gyrenes have already played and beat the NAIA #1 team in the nation, Southeastern, by a score of 7-6 and have beaten the NAIA #18 team in the nation, Webber International, by the same score of 7-6. Neither game counted as a "conference" victory.
The Gyrenes defeated the Southeastern fire in the 2
nd game of a double-header of 1/30 and took down the Webber Warriors this past Wednesday on their home turf. They enter the weekend series with a 4-5 record on the year and 1-1 on the road.
2018 Series:
Warner took 2 out of 3 last season from the Gyrenes, losing game 1 of the series 10-9 on Friday last season, but came back and won both games on Saturday. The Royals won game 2 of the series 6-5 and followed that with another victory 11-8, taking the series from Ave Maria.
Players To Watch This Weekend:
Warner:
Ave Maria:
- Tully Allen – .379 batting average; 4 Runs; 2 Doubles; 3 BB; 2 SB
- Luis Dominguez – .350 batting average; 3 Runs; 1 Double; 3 RBI; 1 SB
- Luis Rodriguez – .310 batting average; 3 Runs; 3 Doubles; 2 RBI; 5 BB; 3 SB
- Ben Krizen – 2.84 ERA; 3-0; 6.1 IP; 7 SO's
- Chase Barrett – .84 ERA; 0-1; 10.2 IP; 7 SO's
The Gyrenes are averaging just over 3 runs scored a game and if the Royals pitching staff can throw the ball like they did last weekend and are backed up by solid defense all weekend, look for the Royals to come away with the series win and a leg up in the conference standings after this weekend.
Team Stat Comparison:
| Team Stat |
Warner |
Ave Maria |
| Batting Average |
.294 |
.218 |
| Hits |
45 |
52 |
| Doubles |
11 |
9 |
| Triples |
1 |
0 |
| Home Runs |
1 |
4 |
| RBI's |
32 |
21 |
| Runs Scored |
36 |
28 |
| Errors |
14 |
11 |
Trey Matthews and the Royals offense exploded for 26 runs in 3 games last weekend vs the Florida National Conquistadors; look for the Gyrenes to have a solid pitching and defensive attack, as they have already defeated 2 of the top 20 teams/offenses in the NAIA, and expect a hard fought game from both sides and each team is looking to gain an edge in the TSC early in the year.
Royals Sports Network:
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/warner/
