Baseball Defeats Second-Straight Ranked Opponent

HOUSTON – Coaches often say the most improvement in the season comes between the first and second week of play, and that may prove true for the St. Mary's Baseball team as they swept No. 3 Central Missouri and No. 19 Arkansas Tech at the Houston Winter Invitational.
 
The Wonder Boys (4-1) made things interesting, loading the bases in the bottom of the ninth off three straight singles and scoring two, but senior pitcher Connor Schmidt (Devine, Texas) eventually struck out the side for the 4-2 Rattlers (3-3) win.
 
Senior Dylan Bells (Regina, Saskatchewan) pitched a gem, allowing no runs on five hits with a career-high tying eight strikeouts. Both sophomore Brett Brown (Sinton, Texas) and sophomore Andrew Girod (San Antonio) worked one scoreless inning each as the quartet did not walk a single batter in the game.
 
Junior Clay Bradford (Atoscocita, Texas) was 2-for-4 with one run scored, while sophomore Jacob Elizondo (San Antonio) was 1-for-4 with two RBI. Senior Ryan McGowen (San Antonio) and junior Rudy Solis (El Paso, Texas) added the other two RBI.
 
In the top of second inning, junior Brandon Broughton (Corpus Christi, Texas) singled to third with one out and he moved to second on a single to left by sophomore Trey Guajardo (San Juan, Texas). Solis singled to right, advancing Guajardo to second and Broughton scored. Freshman Jorge Cuevas (El Paso, Texas) walked to load the bases and Elizondo doubled down the right field line to score both Solis and Guajardo for the 3-0 lead.
 
The Rattlers added one in the eighth. Senior Jake Mares (Fort Worth, Texas) walked and a bunt single by Bradford put runners on first and second. Junior Brian Juarez (Corpus Christi) grounded into a double play, but Bradford moved to second. McGowen singled to third base and Bradford scored for the fourth run of the contest.
 
St. Mary's returns to Lone Star Conference action, playing a four-game set at Lubbock Christian beginning on Friday at 5 p.m.