Box Score
SAN ANTONIO — It was a routine game for No. 11 St. Mary's Baseball, with quality pitching and timely hitting topping Texas A&M International in the first round of the Heartland Conference Tournament on Thursday.
The Rattlers rolled to a 5-1 victory over the Dustdevils to advance to the semifinal round of the tournament as an 11-hit spurt fueled St. Mary's behind
Rene Solis' (Jr., San Antonio) complete-game, nine-inning gem.
All-Conference First Team selectee Solis fanned four in his third complete game on the season Thursday, improving to 8-1 on the year. The lefty walked just one in his nine-inning outing, scattering six hits and allowing one earned run.
“It felt good,” said Solis, who's tossing a 1.94 ERA on the season. “Especially since they (the Dustdevils) were hitting the ball decently well and our defense was just making plays.”
Solis also got plenty of run support, namely from All-Conference Second Team selectee and breakout Rattler this season,
Al Gonzalez (RS-Fr., Pasadena, Texas).
Gonzalez went 3 for 4 at the plate Thursday, including flying a big one in the seventh in a two-run homer for his third on the season. Gonzalez's bomb to left field helped stunt the Dustdevils (26-25), who held a brief 1-0 lead in the second.
The Rattlers (36-13) erased their one-run deficit as quickly as TAMIU earned it with an RBI-triple from
Nathan Humpal (Jr., Corpus Christi, Texas) in the second, followed by an RBI-single from
Scott Slusher (Sr., Grapevine, Texas), which put them in the lead, 2-1
The fifth saw another Rattler run as
Ivan Sigala (Sr., El Paso, Texas) scored off a Dustdevil error before Gonzalez's blast in the seventh that sealed St. Mary's advancement into the winner's bracket.
The second round of the tournament will see another faceoff with the Rattlers' long-standing rival St. Edward's University, who defeated Arkansas-Fort Smith in the first round to also advance to the winner's bracket.
“We kind of expected to play them,” said Solis of the Hilltoppers. “They're a good team and we know they're a good team. We're excited for it, we're excited when it comes ahead. It's a big rivalry for us.”
The Rattlers were able to work their bats Thursday with three coming away with multiple-hit days. Along with leading with two RBI, Gonzalez led with his three hits followed by Humpal and
Adrian Garcia (RS-Jr., El Paso, Texas) with two. Humpal's triple in the second wasn't the only three-bagger of the day as
Derek Moczygemba (Sr., Bulverde, Texas) also recorded a triple in the first, his fourth on the season.
The Rattlers play rival St. Edward's at 3:30 p.m. Friday in the second round of the Heartland Conference Tournament at Incarnate Word's Sullivan Field.
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.
