AVE MARIA, Fla. - The fourth ranked St. Thomas University Bobcats (46-5, 22-2 TSC) defeated Ave Maria (15-35, 4-20 TSC) 7-5 on Tuesday afternoon at Bowie's Ballpark on the campus of Ave Maria.

The Bobcats found themselves needing to mount a comeback early on in the game as Gyrenes jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first inning. Rene Arauz (7-2) entered the game with one out in the inning and pitched through the eighth inning, only allowing one hit and striking out six to allow St. Thomas to comeback. Tyler Morales closed the game in the ninth inning to preserve the victory for the Bobcats.

Finding themselves down 5-0 in the first inning; the Bobcats offense slowly started to mount a comeback as the game went on. Getting on the board in the fourth inning on a Chris Allende steal of third and throwing error by the catcher for Ave Maria allowed STU to get in the run column.

Nick Izquierdo (3-4, 3 RBI) got his first of three hits on the game in the inning as well, bringing in Sergio Lopez and Chris Garabedian to cut the Gyrene lead in half at 5-3. Juan Martinez followed with a RBI single of his own to bring in Izquierdo to bring STU back within one run.

The Bobcats tied the game at 5-5 in the sixth when Izquierdo once again brought in Lopez on a RBI single.

The score stayed deadlocked at 5-5 until the top of the ninth inning with two outs, when Nelson Mompierre (2-4) came up with Elih Marrero and Jackie Urbaez on base. Urbaez and Marrero each scored on a throwing error by the third baseman, which allowed the Bobcats to claim their first lead of the contest in the late innings at 7-5.

Up next for the No. 4 St. Thomas University Bobcats is the conclusion of the regular season with a series against Florida National University starting on Friday, April 27th at 6 p.m. from Paul Demie Mainieri Field.

-30-