Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
SAN ANTONIO — The St. Mary's Rattlers are still yearning to clinch the regular season championship after splitting the day with rival St. Edward's on Saturday.
Game 1 spurred an atypical outing for the Rattlers, who fell 15-2 before regaining footing in Game 2 to take it 6-4.
Al Gonzalez (RS-Fr., Pasedena, Texas) rejected the Hilltoppers' Brannon Easterling from recording the shutout in the opener, slicing a two-RBI single in the bottom of the seventh.
Carl O'Neal (Sr., San Antonio) faced only his second loss on the season, falling to 10-2. O'Neal went 4 1/3 innings with three strikeouts.
Game 2 started a whole new ballgame, and mentality, for the Rattlers.
“It's good to be on top after being on the bottom like that,” said
Brandon Bates (Sr., Boerne, Texas), who's batting .380 on the season.
Bates, along with
Adrian Garcia (RS-Jr., El Paso, Texas), charged in Game 2 with three hits apiece in the 13-hit vendetta game.
Derek Moczygemba (Sr., Bulverde, Texas) and
Billy Richard (Sr., Schertz, Texas) each recorded a pair of hits with Richard leading the game with three RBIs, including a two-RBI double in the first.
Rene Solis (Jr., San Antonio) kept the Rattlers in contention for the regular season championship, which the Rattlers can clinch early with a series win over the Hilltoppers (29-13, 19-10 in conference). The lefty tossed seven innings for five strikeouts in a quality start that prepped closer
Jonathan Perez (RS-Sr., San Antonio) for his eighth save of the season. Perez went two innings with one strikeout.
With a split Saturday, the Rattlers maintain their No. 1 rank in the Heartland Conference with a 29-12 overall record and 27-7 conference record. More importantly, they remain three games ahead of the Hilltoppers in the loss column. A win tomorrow would clinch the title and the season series with the rival at 4-2.
“A clinch would be nice,” said Bates, who was last week's Heartland Conference Hitter of the Week. “But we're not going to put any more pressure on it (the game) than we usually do.”
The Rattlers face off with the Hilltoppers for the final time in the regular season at 1 p.m. Sunday at San Antonio ISD Sports Complex.
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.
