SAN ANTONIO – The St. Mary's Baseball team extended its winning streak to four-straight games with a doubleheader sweep over visiting Lubbock Christian on Sunday afternoon.
After having the series pushed back a day due to storms throughout Texas, the Rattlers (6-2, 4-1 Lone Star Conference) won 7-2 and 7-4 on a gorgeous day at Dickson Stadium. StMU won its fourth-straight home opener with the win in game one and improved to 46-20 in the first home contest of the year.
Of the 18 hits for the Rattlers in the twinbill, eight were for extra bases including the first career home run for junior
Jake Mares (Fort Worth, Texas). Mares also tripled and stole a base. Both
Brian Juarez (Corpus Christi, Texas) and
Mauro Bustamante (Helotes, Texas) each had a pair of doubles.
In the first game, Lubbock Christian (3-5, 2-3 Lone Star) pitchers plunked six batters. It is the second-most times the Rattlers have been hit by pitches in a single game, narrowly missing the record of seven against Tarleton State (Feb. 11, 2006).
The Rattlers never trailed on the day, scoring three runs in the first inning of game one and took a 6-0 lead into the sixth. In the second game, they scored one each in the first two frames before the Chaps tied it in the third. The Rattlers added one each in the third and fourth and once again, LCU knotted the score. The Blue & Gold took the lead for good with three in the seventh for the 7-4 victory.
The two teams complete the season series on Monday at 1 p.m. at Dickson Stadium on the campus of St. Mary's.
GAME ONE RECAP
The Rattlers jumped out early, as with two outs in the first inning, Mares reached on an error by the third baseman. Senior
Mitchell Caskey (Houston) followed with a single, Bustamante was hit and senior
Johnny Hernandez (El Paso, Texas) singled to center to score Mares and Caskey. A Juarez single to right gave StMU the 3-0 lead.
Two hit batters and a fielder's choice led to a run in the second and another two-out rally added two runs in the third. Juarez doubled to left center, freshman
Devin Goins (San Antonio) and
Shawn Tober (San Antonio) both singled and senior
Derek Mueller (Carrolton, Texas) doubled for the 6-0 advantage.
The Chaps scored one in the sixth, the Rattlers got the run back in the eighth and LCU scored the final run in the top of the ninth for the 7-2 final.
Junior right-hander
Connor Schmidt (Devine, Texas) won his third game of the season, tying his season high with six strikeouts. He allowed only one run on three hits in seven innings to improve to 3-1. Senior
Johnny Panatex (Pflugerville, Texas), pitching for the first time in 2021, gave up one run on three hits over the final two frames.
GAME TWO RECAP
The Rattlers struck early again, scoring one run in each of the first four innings and added a three-spot in the seventh after LCU tied the game for the second time at 4-4 in the sixth stanza.
Mares was 2-for-4 with the triple and the home run and was robbed of a third hit by a leaping snag by the second baseman in the fourth. Bustamante and sophomore
Brandon Broughton (Corpus Christi) also had 2-for-4 games at the plate and Bustamante had three RBIs, all in the seventh when he blasted a bases-clearing double to the wall in right-center.
Senior Zach De la Garza (San Antonio) tallied a no decision on the hill, pitching 5 2/3 innings. He struck out a season-high seven, surrendering four runs on seven hits with a pair of walks. Junior
Collin Storms (Lewisville, Texas) improved to 1-1 after throwing the final 3 1/3 innings. He allowed just one hit and walked one, striking out two.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES
- Connor Schmidt struck out a season-high tying six batters in game one, helping him improve to 3-1 on the season. He was one off his career-high of seven K's against Lubbock Christian on March 1, 2019.
- Zach De la Garza also fanned a season-high seven Chaps, surpassing his total of five from two weeks ago at Oklahoma Christian.
- Jake Mares hit the first home run of his career, clearing the left field wall in the third inning of the second game. Mares also hit the fourth triple of his career, doing so in the first inning of the nightcap.
- The team hit .295 over the two games, but had a .419 on-base percentage and held LCU to a .212 batting average and .288 on-base percentage.
- St. Mary's has scored at least six runs in all eight games of 2021 and have hit double digits on three occasions.
