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Scoreboard

Cody Butler
Rachel Boothe
Ace Cody Butler struck out eight in his win over CMU, improving to 12-2.
6
Winner St. Mary's STMU 39-14
5
Colorado Mesa CMU 47-8
Winner
St. Mary's STMU
39-14
6
Final
5
Colorado Mesa CMU
47-8
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
St. Mary's STMU 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 7 2
Colorado Mesa CMU 0 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 5 9 1

W: Butler, Cody (12-2) L: T. Ehlers (8-1) S: Camacho, Conner (4)

Game Recap: Baseball | | RattlerAthletics.com

Upset City: Rattler arms outlast No. 1 seed Colorado Mesa

By Robin Johnson | St. Mary's Athletics Communications 

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — You might as well start calling Connor Camacho "Mr. Clutch."
 
Camacho carried the effort from starting ace Cody Butler in Game 1 of the South Central Region Tournament as No. 6-seeded St. Mary's Baseball upset No. 1 seed and tournament host Colorado Mesa, 6-5, Thursday night.
 
Daktronics All-Region Second Team pitcher Butler (Sr., Baytown, Texas) earned the start for the Snakes, pitching his all for seven complete innings against the No. 3-ranked team in the nation, tossing 132 pitches.
 
Butler registered eight strikeouts against the No. 1-seeded Mavericks, tossing two innings that included retiring CMU three-up, three-down with two strikeouts.
 
The Mavericks crept back from a 6-0 deficit and had the tying run on second with none out in the eighth when Camacho (Jr., Pilot Point, Texas) was put to work.
 
The closer retired his first five batters straight with three strikeouts with his seventh batter reaching on a Rattler fielding error.
 
Now with the winning run at the plate and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Camacho eased into the strike zone once more, striking out the final batter to close out the stunning upset for No. 21 Rattler Baseball.
 
Camacho's clutch effort notched his fourth save on the season, clinching Butler's 12th win on the year while granting Colorado Mesa just its eighth loss on the year as it dropped to 47-8 overall. 
 
Together, the pair struck out 12 of the highly ranked Mavericks' lineup, which entered the game with a team batting average of .349 and housed the NCBWA and Daktronics South Central Region Player of the Year Austin Wallingford who went hitless with two strikeouts again Camacho and Butler.
 
The Rattler bats lit up the Mavericks' formally undefeated starting pitcher to force a pitching change in the second inning after StMU scored six runs off six hits to take a 6-0 lead.
 
The second would be the Rattlers' only scoring inning but in the end, it was all that was needed.
 
The Snakes rattled off five straight hits with two outs to record the five-run, two-out rally in the second, starting with an RBI-single from Keith Funk (RS-Jr., San Antonio).
 
The Mavericks showed the fight of a No. 3-ranked team in the nation in their very next at-bat, going on their own two-out rally to score three runs to slice StMU's lead in half, 6-3, and successfully executed a squeeze play in fourth to make 6-4.
 
After the Rattlers' fired off their six hits off starting pitcher Tyler Ehlers in the second, the Mavericks cycled through three more arms that kept StMU hitless until its final at-bat in the ninth.
 
Funk singled up the middle in the ninth and was moved into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt from Jacob Marler (Jr., Helotes, Texas) but the Mavericks' fifth pitcher on the night was able to retire the final batter to make it a 6-5 game heading into CMU's final at-bat. 
 
But Camacho was already dialed in, striking out two of his four batters faced to deny a comeback from CMU to seal the upset and improve the Rattlers to 39-14 overall. 
 
Rattler Baseball advances to play No. 3 seed Angelo State at 4:30 p.m. Friday in Grand Junction, Colo. at Sam Suplizio Field.
 

 
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