SAN ANTONIO – In a back-and-forth affair it was the St. Mary's Baseball team who came out on top, with a thrilling 9-8 walk-off victory over #15 West Texas A&M as
Shawn Tober hit a pinch-hit single to left field in the bottom of the 10
th inning.
Tober, a sophomore from San Antonio, was at the plate for only the second time this season and with two outs and the bases loaded blasted a single to left field to give the Rattlers (6-4, 6-4 Lone Star Conference) their only win in the series against the Buffs (8-2, 8-2 Lone Star).
Every time one team scored on the day, the opponent answered until the Rattlers were able to get the win in their second extra-inning contest of the series. St. Mary's scored one in the first, each team had one in the second and WTAMU tied it up again with a run in the third. In the fifth, StMU scored three and the Buffs got all three back in the top of the sixth. In the bottom of the seventh, the Rattlers plated one for the 6-5 advantage and neither team scored in the eighth. The Buffs – as they have done all weekend – took a late lead with two runs in the ninth, however the Rattlers tied it up to force extras. WTAMU scored one before StMU got the win with two runs in the bottom half of the frame.
The teams combined for 29 hits (17 StMU, 12 WTAMU) and stranded 27 runners on base (12 StMU, 15 WTAMU). The Buffs also committed six errors, compared to just one for the Rattlers.
Senior
Steven Wynn (San Antonio) had a stellar day, going 4-for-4 with four runs scored, a walk and an RBI in his third-straight start in left field. Senior
Patrick Fennell (El Paso, Texas) was also on base five times, going 3-for-4 with two walks, two runs scored and two RBIs. Seniors
Derek Mueller (Carrolton, Texas) and
Johnny Hernandez (El Paso) both had multi-hit games going 2-for-5 each.
Junior transfer
Adrian Gonzales (Pasadena, Texas) picked up the win, working the final 1.2 innings. He gave up one run on three hits with two strikeouts to even his record at 1-1. Senior
Mason Minister (San Antonio) started on the hill, working four innings. He gave up two runs on four hits, but he walked five and struck out three. Senior
Tyler Dick (San Antonio) pitched the fifth, sophomore
Connor Schmidt (Devine, Texas) pitched 0.1 of an inning and senior
Johnny Panatex (Pflugerville, Texas) threw three frames.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Minister struck out the first two batters of the game and worked around two runners on, getting the flyout to end the first.
With two outs, senior
Keaton Milford (New Braunfels, Texas) drew a walk and Hernandez singled past the third baseman. Wynn singled to left to plate Milford for the first run of the game.
A leadoff walk came around to score with two outs in the top of the second for the Buffs after they hit back-to-back singles to knot the score at 1-1.
Fennell walked to kick off the second and moved to second on a throwing error by the pitcher, who was attempting to pick him off. Senior
Ragan Forrest (Lorena, Texas) singled between short and third to score Fennell and give the lead right back to the Rattlers, 2-1.
The Buffs tied the score for the second time with a home run down the right field line by Clay Koelzer.
Milford doubled to left-centerfield to lead off the bottom of the fifth and scampered to third on a single up the middle by Wynn. With two outs, Fennell singled up the middle as well to plate Milford for the 3-2 lead and knock out the Buffs starting hurler. Forrest walked to load the bases and Mueller followed with a single to left-center to score two and lift the Rattlers to a 5-2 advantage.
A hit batter and a pair of walks proved costly for the Rattlers pitching as they all came around to score in the top of the sixth to once again tie the score at 5-5. Panatex came in with the bases loaded and stranded all three runners with a strikeout and a popout to shallow center.
Wynn was hit by the first pitch of the seventh inning and he was sacrificed to second by
Fernando Zubia (El Paso) who was pinch hitting. Fennell torched a line drive into centerfield and the Rattlers regained the lead, 6-5.
In the top of the ninth the Buffs scored two runs on three hits to take their first lead of the day, 7-6.
Wynn kept his hot day at the plate going, doubling to center and he came around to score on a single to center by Zubia to tie the contest and force extra innings.
A leadoff double by the Buffs came around to score on a sacrifice fly for the 8-7 advantage in the top of the 10
th.
Sophomore
Ryan McGowen (San Antonio) legged out an infield single to begin things in the Rattlers half of the 10
th. Milford blasted a shot to the deepest part of the park, hitting a ball approximately 385 feet to right center for a loud out. Hernandez and Wynn walked to load the bases. Zubia hit a ball that ate up the second baseman and everyone was safe, with McGowen scoring the tying run. Fennell hit into a fielder's choice, where senior
Andrew Perez (El Paso) – who pinch ran for Hernandez – was out at home. Tober then singled to left for the walk-off win.
TEAM & INDIVDUAL PLAYER NOTES
- Both Ryan McGowen and Jake Mares have reached base in all 10 games in 2020.
- Steven Wynn has at least one hit in all five of his starts this season, and in six consecutive games – the longest streak on the team. The four hits by Wynn today are a career-high and he tied his career-high with the four at bats.
- Jake Mares was on base in 15 of 19 plate appearances over the four-game series, raising his batting average 36 points from .400 to .436.
- The 17 hits are a season-best for St. Mary's, topping the 15 from the second game at Lubbock Christian.
- Today was the fifth time in 10 games the Rattlers hit multiple doubles in a game. St. Mary's hit two doubles in the game, one by Keaton Milford and one by Steven Wynn. The team now has 13 two-baggers on the year.
UP NEXT
The Rattlers hit the road for a four-game series at St. Edward's next weekend and the following weekend they head to Odessa for a four-game set at Texas-Permian Basin. The first game in Austin is slated to begin Friday at 2 p.m.
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