Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
SAN ANTONIO — It wasn't always pretty, but the Rattlers scratched and clawed their way to two hard-fought victories against underdog Oklahoma Panhandle State on Friday.
After eking out a 2-1 victory in Game 1 of a doubleheader, No. 6 St. Mary's Baseball outlasted the Aggies 6-5 in 10 innings following catcher
Keith Funk's walk-off, sacrifice fly to centerfield at Dickson Stadium.
The Rattlers (21-7) were limited to four hits by OPSU (8-21) — but they certainly made the most of those hits, using bunts, squeezes and capitalizing on seven walks to get the win.
"It shows that even if our hitting isn't working in a game," Funk said, "we can still do what we need to do to put ourselves in a position to win, and scratch some runs across to win a game."
Ace
Rene Solis picked up the Game 1 victory, fanning 11 and scattering five hits in the complete-game, seven-inning win. Solis has totaled 23 strikeouts over his last two appearances.
Outfielder
Brooks Orton totaled four stolen bases on the day, including a school-record tying three steals in Game 2. Orton also had three steals at McMurry on March 7.
Moving in from the outfield,
Adrian Garcia pitched the final 1 2/3 innings of Game 2 to pick up the win. He struck out three to improve to 4-0 on the year.
In the game, St. Mary's had built what seemed to be a comfortable 5-1 lead going into the ninth. But a wild inning saw the Aggies score four runs to even the score at 5-5, and it took back-to-back strikeouts from Garcia to prevent OPSU from going ahead with runners at second and third to end the inning.
Earlier in the day, St. Mary's struck once in the first and once more in the second to take a quick 2-0 lead in Game 1, which was enough for the Rattlers to prevail.
Omar Garcia led the Rattlers at the plate, going 2 for 3 with an RBI.
The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday at Dickson Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on the Rattler Network.
