Box Score
SAN ANTONIO — For the fourth straight season, the St. Mary's Rattlers have a Heartland Conference championship to their name after defeating long-standing rival St. Edward's on Sunday.
St. Mary's took the victory and the title, 2-1, to win the season series with the Hilltoppers 4-2 to secure its right to host the conference tournament in May.
Two early runs in the first inning were all that was needed for the Rattlers as
Matt McClain (So., San Antonio) stifled the Hilltoppers (29-14, 19-11 in conference), peppering four strikeouts in eight innings of work. McClain tossed 4 2/3 hitless and scoreless innings against St. Edward's and allowed one earned run to improve to 6-3 on the season.
“You know it feels good,” said McClain, who moved into the starting rotation this season. “I really think our bats came together all season and our defense has been outstanding also, so I give those guys credit for all that hard work they do.”
The Rattlers gave McClain support Sunday as they rallied for seven hits.
Brandon Bates (Sr., Boerne, Texas) led with two hits while
Billy Richard (Sr., Schertz, Texas) picked up his 24th RBI on the season.
Kyle Bumpas (Jr., El Paso, Texas) led off the Rattler bats with a double and would score off two wild pitches. Richard had two men on and sliced one to second base to gain a fielders choice that brought in a run shortly thereafter.
The Hilltoppers were quieted until the fifth, when a triple followed by a double brought in their sole run of the game. McClain pitched the sixth and seventh in 3-up-3-down fashion and snaked out of the eighth that saw a Hilltopper on second and third with one out after two great nabs from
Mario Maldonado (So., Laredo, Texas) ended the inning.
With the conference title already theirs, the Rattlers have one league series of unfinished business left.
St. Mary's faces Texas A&M International in its final league series of the regular season in hopes for a series win to complete its season with wins in all conference series. In their last meeting, the Dustdevils took the three-game series 2-1.
“We'll come out and play our game,” said McClain, who was named last week's conference Pitcher of the Week.
St. Mary's plays the Dustdevils starting with a doubleheader at 12 p.m. Friday in Laredo, Texas.
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.
