Baseball Snaps Four-Game Skid With 4-3 Victory

SAN ANTONIO – The St. Mary's Baseball team took advantage of free baserunners, scoring four runs on four hits in a 4-3 victory over St. Edward's on Saturday afternoon.

Three of the four runs that scored for the Rattlers (10-10, 8-9 Lone Star Conference) reached base via walk or hit by pitch and the other was a fielder's choice that erased a runner that was on base after a base on balls.

Senior 2B Johnny Hernandez (El Paso, Texas) was plunked twice, while the team was hit five times tying for the third-most in school history. Earlier this year the Blue & Gold were hit by a pitch six times against Lubbock Christian (Feb. 21, 2021).

Senior LHP Zach De la Garza (San Antonio) pitched seven innings in moving to 3-1 on the year. He gave up two runs on six hits, walking three and fanning seven. Fellow senior Johnny Panatex (Pflugerville, Texas) earned his first save of the season, throwing the final two frames where he gave up one run on two hits with two walks.

The four hits by the Rattlers came from the top four in the lineup and those four were all on base multiple times and eight of the nine in the batting order reached safely at least once. Sophomore Brandon Broughton (Corpus Christi, Texas) had the team's lone extra base hit in the game, drilling a double down the left field line to score two.

St. Edward's (5-9, 5-9 Lone Star) broke onto the scoreboard first with a two-run homer in the first frame.

Both Hernandez and sophomore Mauro Bustamante (Helotes, Texas) were hit by pitches to begin the Rattlers half of the second and with two outs, senior Derek Mueller (Carrolton, Texas) hit a bloop single to centerfield to score both and knot the score at 2-2.

With one out in the seventh and Mueller at first, the Hilltoppers recorded a passed ball and wild pitch on consecutive pitches to put Mueller at third. Junior Jake Mares (Fort Worth, Texas) walked and Broughton followed with his double for the 4-2 advantage.

The win for the Rattlers snaps a six-game losing skid against the Hilltoppers and a four-game streak in 2021. The teams will decide the winner of the three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m.