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FORT SMITH, Ark. — A grand slam signified the Rattlers' success over Arkansas-Fort Smith Friday, as St. Mary's picked up both victories in the doubleheader to solidify their position as the top team in the league.
Al Gonzalez's (RS-Fr., Pasedena, Texas) grand slam, followed by
Brandon Bates' (Sr., Boerne, Texas) solo home run, helped propel the Rattlers to a 9-3 victory in Game One. St. Mary's peppered 10 hits in Game Two to win 6-1 in the highly anticipated series.
With Friday's two wins, the Rattlers are now three games in the loss column ahead of rival St. Edward's, which sits No. 2 in the Heartland Conference.
Friday's wins were critical for the Rattlers as in their last matchup the Lions took the series 2-1. In a tight race for the Heartland Conference with the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seeds only separated by one win, Friday's wins and an ideal win Saturday could help in a tiebreaker as St. Edward's spilt the season with the Lions 3-3. In more good news for the Rattlers, the No. 2 Hilltoppers lost to No. 5 Newman University Friday, giving St. Mary's more leverage for hosting the Heartland Conference Tournament and gaining the Heartland Conference regular-season championship for the fourth straight year.
In the series opener, the Rattlers were down by the end of the first with two Lion (16-12, 14-9) runs. After an RBI-single from Bates and a RBI-sac bunt from
Ivan Sigala (Sr., El Paso, Texas) tied it, Gonzalez broke the game wide open with a bomb that had bases loaded to finish off the Rattlers' six-run third inning. Bates led off the fifth with a solo home run for his first homer on the season and brought in the Rattlers' final run in the sixth on a sac fly.
Carl O'Neal (Sr., San Antonio) improved to 8-1 on the season in Game 1, tossing four innings.
Kyle Bumpas (Jr., El Paso, Texas), who also scored two runs in Game 1, pitched three innings in relief and closed out the victory.
Fueled by the much-needed victory in Game 1, the Rattlers continued to slam at the plate in Game 2, starting off with a statement four-run first inning. Gonzalez again led St. Mary's, picking up a team-high two RBIs and recording his seventh double on the season, the most on the team.
Derek Moczygemba (Sr., Bulverde, Texas),
Billy Richard (Sr., Schertz, Texas), Gonzalez and
Adrian Garcia (RS-Jr., El Paso, Texas) had the bulk of Game 2's 10 hits as all four came away with two hits apiece.
Matt McClain (So., San Antonio), the Heartland Conference's strikeout leader, improved to 4-2 on the season with Game 2's victory and added seven more K's to his strikeout count, bringing it up to 60. McClain nearly had the shutout, but gave up one run in the final inning of his 6 2/3 innings pitched.
Rick Villa (RS-Jr., San Antonio) and
Colter Bostick (Jr., Corpus Christi, Texas) pitched one and 1/3 innings in relief, respectively, and
Jonathan Perez (RS-Sr., San Antonio) closed out the game, pitching the final inning.
St. Mary's improved to 21-9 on the season and 17-5 in conference play.
The Rattlers finish the series with the Lions at 1 p.m. Saturday in Fort Smith, Ark.
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.
