Baseball Falters Against #10 West Texas A&M

CANYON, Texas – It was a tale of two games for the St. Mary's Baseball team on Saturday afternoon as they lost a close hard-fought battle 4-3 in game one and a crooked first inning in game two led to a lopsided loss in game two, 11-0 against No. 10 West Texas A&M.

Junior Ryan McGowen (San Antonio) scored two of the team's three runs on the day and was on base in five of his six plate appearances. Senior Johnny Hernandez (El Paso, Texas), senior Mitchell Caskey (Houston) and sophomore Mauro Bustamante (Helotes, Texas) also reached base in both games. The Rattlers collected 13 hits on the day, nine in the first game and four in the nightcap and all 13 were singles.

The Buffaloes improved to 21-3 on the season and 18-2 in Lone Star Conference action, while the Rattlers move to 11-13 overall and 9-12 in Lone Star play. Seven of the Rattlers 13 losses this season are to teams ranked in the top-10 of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll.

St. Mary's will play a rare mid-week non-conference game on Tuesday, hosting cross-town opponent Our Lady of the Lake at 6 p.m. before welcoming Eastern New Mexico to town for a three-game set  over the weekend. The teams will play a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 2, plus a 1 p.m. contest on Saturday.

GAME ONE RECAP
The Rattlers played their fourth-straight one-run contest with the 4-3 loss. Eight of the nine in the batting order reached base at least once and Mueller had the only multi-hit game going 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored. McGowen scored two runs after going 1-for-4 with a walk and a hit by pitch.

Senior Zach De la Garza (San Antonio) fell to 3-2 on the year after allowing four runs on eight hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Collin Storms (x) pitched the final two frames and surrendered only two hits in eight batters faced.

The Rattlers took the 2-0 lead in the top of the third, but the Buffaloes scored one in the fifth and three in the sixth to take the 4-2 lead. StMU added one in the seventh for the 4-3 final.

GAME TWO RECAP
The Rattlers were never able to recover from a crooked first inning by the Buffaloes as they plated six and went on to win 11-0.

Hitters three-through-seven in the lineup each recorded one hit for the Rattlers as they had just four in the seven frames. Caskey, Hernandez, Bustamante and McGowen each singled, but they were unable to string together enough to push a run home.

Junior Connor Schmidt (Devine, Texas) fell to 3-5 in 2021 after pitching just the first inning. Freshman Karlo Kalifa (Round Rock, Texas) threw 4.1 innings, allowing only one earned run on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts, while sophomore Josh Buske (San Antonio) pitched the final 0.2. He didn't allow an earned run on one hit, one walk and one strikeout.