Baseball Avoids Sweep With 10-5 Win Over OC

SAN ANTONIO – The St. Mary's Baseball team avoided the sweep, defeating Oklahoma Christian 10-5 for the first win of the season.
 
The Rattlers (1-3, 1-3 Lone Star Conference) got off to a solid start as senior Mason Minister (San Antonio) pitched four shutout innings, walking only one and striking out five. Sophomore Karlo Kalifa (Round Rock, Texas) picked up the win, pitching 2.1 innings. He allowed one earned run on two hits and one strikeout. Senior Connor Schmidt (Devine, Texas) – in his new role as the closer, earned his first save after pitching the final 1.2 frames with one hit, two walks and four strikeouts.
 
Senior Ryan McGowen (San Antonio) was 3-for-4 at the plate with a pair of doubles and two RBI and he scored three times. Both junior Brian Juarez (Corpus Christi, Texas) and junior Clay Bradford (Atoscocita, Texas) hit home runs as StMU recorded 10 runs on eight hits with four OC errors.
 
Senior Jake Mares (Fort Worth, Texas) drew two more walks and stole his first bag of the year, pulling off the double steal with sophomore Jacob Elizondo (San Antonio).
 
The Rattlers head to Minute Maid Park for the Houston Winter Invitational squaring off with Central Missouri on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and Arkansas Tech on Sunday at 5 p.m. for the team's only two non-conference games of the season.
 
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER & TEAM NOTES

• The win is the first in the head coaching career of Chris Ermis. The Rattlers are 1-3 on the season.
• Both Clay Bradford and Brian Juarez hit their first home runs of the season.
• Jake Mares is now tied for 11th in StMU history in stolen bases with 45, knotting Kevin Murphy (1988-92). Mares is now three shy of joining the top 10.
• Ryan McGowen went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles in the game. It was the third time in his career he's hit a pair of two-baggers in the same contest.