Box Score
HOUSTON — No. 15 St. Mary's Baseball and No. 19 Central Missouri have quite a history.
Their highly anticipated matchup was nothing short of dramatic as the Rattlers pulled away with the victory, 5-4, on opening day.
In their last meet up, Central Missouri saw the Rattlers dog pile on the Mules' home field for the regional crown in 2012 — one year after the Mules did the same to the Rattlers for the regional title in 2011. And when the Rattlers claimed the national championship title in 2001, it was the Mules who they took it from.
Needless to say, this game was an important victory for the Rattlers and a stellar way to open their season.
Mario Maldonado (Jr., Laredo, Texas) broke the game open with a solo homerun in the second. It was a sweet shot and flashback for Maldonado in his first at-bat with the Mules and on the season as as a freshman he recorded his first career homer against UCM in the regional title game in 2011.
A wild pitch brought in the Rattlers' second run of the game in the third followed an
Al Gonzalez (RS-So., Pasedena, Texas) RBI-fielder's choice. An RBI-walk from newcomer
Scott Jones (Jr., College Station, Texas) gave the Rattlers a 4-0 cushion going into the bottom of the fourth.
The Mules responded with two, one-run innings to put them down two and erase a shutout, 4-2.
The Rattlers were ready to close out the game but the matchup needed the historic thrill as Mules scored two runs in the eighth to tie it and put the Rattlers in an all-or-nothing position in their last at-bat.
The No. 15 Rattlers responded readily with
Keith Funk (RS-So., San Antonio) hitting the go-ahead RBI-single to score Maldonado to put them back in the lead.
Maldonado, who took the mound after the Mules tied it, braced for his first collegiate win on the mound, which the Mules granted him.
Rene Solis (Sr., San Antonio) had a quality start in the season opener, tossing six innings with four strikeouts and two earned runs.
Rick Villa (RS-Sr., San Antonio) pitched 1.1 innings in relief before tossing it to Maldonado who threw 1.2 innings for the win.
Maldonado led at the plate with two hits followed by
Adrian Garcia (RS-Sr., El Paso, Texas),
Drake Roberts (Jr., Brenham, Texas),
Omar Garcia (RS-Jr., El Paso, Texas),
Joe Hermsen (Jr., Overland Park, Kan.) and Funk with one hit apiece.
The Rattlers continue the Houston Winter Invitational Sunday when they face UA-Monticello at 10 a.m. in Houston at Minute Maid Park.
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.
