Box Score SAN ANTONIO —
Jan Paul Reguero ripped what looked to be the game-winning hit for the top-ranked St. Mary's Rattlers baseball team Friday afternoon.
But a brilliant defensive snag robbed the Rattlers' pinch hitter of his big moment.
Down to their final out, the Rattlers trailed Arkansas-Fort Smith by one with two runners in scoring position when Reguero ripped a liner down the third-base line. However, a diving, circus grab ended the game to a split with St. Mary's on the opening day of a three-game series.
St. Mary's took Game 1 5-0 as ace
Carl O'Neal (Sr., San Antonio) won his 19th straight decision before Arkansas-Fort Smith bounced back with a 2-1 victory in Game 2 at Wolff Stadium.
“You always try to learn from a loss,” said coach
Charlie Migl, whose squad totaled nine stolen bases over the two games. “There were a lot of mental mistakes with some of our base running and our at-bats. That's the thing that hurts. We're all going to make physical mistakes but there's really no call for making mental mistakes.”
Third baseman
Ivan Sigala (Sr., El Paso, Texas) led the Rattlers (4-1, 3-1 in Heartland Conference) with a 2-for-3 effort that included two RBIs in the opener, while second baseman
Mario Maldonado (So., Laredo, Texas) and center fielder
Billy Richard (Sr., Schertz, Texas) each drove in one run apiece.
O'Neal struck out nine in the complete-game shutout, scattering just two hits and walking one over seven innings.
The Rattlers' bats cooled off in Game 2, trailing 1-0 in the sixth until
Weston Heiligman (RS-So., Castroville, Texas) scored to tie up the game in the bottom of the frame.
In the ninth, a St. Mary's fielding error on a potential double play kept the inning alive, and the miscue burned the Rattlers as the go-ahead run came across moments later. St. Mary's nearly evened the score in the bottom of the frame, but Reguero's (RS-Fr., Aquadilla, Puerto Rico) would-be hit wasn't meant to be.
St. Mary's will wrap up the series at 1 p.m. Saturday at Wolff Stadium.
St. Mary's University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. The University has six athletic national titles: men's basketball (1989–NAIA), baseball (2001–NCAA Div. II), softball (1986–NAIA and 2002–NCAA Div. II) and an individual national champion in men's golf (2006–NCAA Div. II) and a national academic championship in men's golf (2009–NCAA Div. II). St. Mary's also had more than 40 percent of its athletes named to conference, regional and/or national honor rolls this past year. St. Mary's student–athletes graduation rate is 65 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent. To learn more about St. Mary's, visit www.rattlerathletics.com.
