SAN ANTONIO – A three-run homerun off the bat of
Ryan McGowen lifted the St. Mary's Baseball team to a 4-1 win and the season sweep over Lubbock Christian on Monday afternoon.
Trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the seventh, the Rattlers (7-2, 5-1 Lone Star Conference) scored four runs with two outs to stretch their winning streak to five-straight. Junior
Brian Juarez (Corpus Christi, Texas) got the rally started with a double to left center and he scampered to third on a passed ball. The Chaps (3-6, 2-4 Lone Star) intentionally walked sophomore
Brandon Broughton (Corpus Christi) and went to their bull pen. Senior
Scott Short (Ingram, Texas) singled to centerfield to knot the score at 1-1 and McGowen, a junior from San Antonio, hit his first homer of the season with a blast over the right field fence for the 4-1 win.
Senior
Mason Minister (San Antonio) was pitching a gem before leaving the game in the fifth inning due to an injury. Minister allowed one run on three hits with two walks and a season-high eight strikeouts. Senior
Dylan Bells (Regina, Saskatchewan) threw the final 4 1/3 innings, giving up just four hits and two walks while fanning four to earn the win.
The six hits by the Rattlers were scattered amongst six different players, while six different Chaps totaled seven hits.
The Rattlers travel to San Angelo for a three-game series with Angelo State beginning on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES
- The Rattlers are on a five-game winning streak after the three-game sweep over Lubbock Christian. It is the first time since 2018 the Rattlers swept the regular-season series with the Chaps. In 2018, the Blue & Gold took all four at Dickson Stadium.
- Mason Minister struck out a season-high eight batters, bettering his previous high of six from the series at Oklahoma Christian. The eight K's also tie Minister's career-high from Feb. 8, 2020 at Lubbock Christian.
- Ryan McGowen's home run is the first of his career. Both he and junior Jake Mares (Fort Worth, Texas) hit their first dingers of their careers.
- Mares stole two bases in the game, giving him 30 for his career.
- Sophomore Mauro Bustamante (Helotes, Texas) reached on a bunt single in the eighth inning and has now reached safely in all nine games this season.
