Baseball Tops St. Edward's In Game One of Series

AUSTIN, Texas – The St. Mary's Baseball team limited a hot-hitting St. Edward's team to three unearned runs on five hits as the Rattlers won the first of a four-game series, 5-3 on Friday afternoon.
 
Senior Connor Schmidt (Devine, Texas) was effectively wild for the Rattlers, allowing three unearned runs on two hits with three walks and four strikeouts for his first win of the year (1-3). He hit two batters in his longest outing of the season, pitching six complete innings. Senior Anthony Chavez (El Paso, Texas) earned his first save of 2022, pitching the final three innings. He surrendered only three hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
 
The Rattlers (8-15, 6-15 Lone Star Conference) totaled five runs on 12 hits and had base runners in seven of the nine innings. The club had 10 singles and a pair of triples in winning for the third time in the last four outings.
 
Senior Jake Mares (Fort Worth, Texas) continued his hot streak, going 3-for-4 with a run scored. Clay Bradford (Atoscocita, Texas), Ryan McGowen (San Antonio) and Jake Elizondo (San Antonio) all had two hits on the afternoon.
 
Tied a 1-1 in the sixth, McGowen singled and Elizondo pulled off the successful hit-and-run, advancing McGowen to third with a single through the right side. Elizondo stole second and an overthrow by the catcher allowed McGowen to scamper home for the 2-1 advantage.
 
A pair StMU errors and a wild pitch in the sixth allowed the Hilltoppers to take the 3-2 lead. Mares singled to center to start the inning and moved to second on passed ball. Bradford tripled down the right field line to even the score again at 3-3. Rudy Solis (El Paso, Texas) grounded out to short, but Bradford scored to give the Rattlers back the lead, 4-3.
 
With one out in the eighth, Elizondo tripled down the right field line and scored on a wild pitch to stretch the advantage to two, 5-3.
 
Chavez got out of a bases loaded jam with no outs in the bottom of the eighth, inducing a pop up, striking one out and a flyout to Bradford in right center to keep the Hilltoppers off the scoreboard and secure the victory.
 
The two teams play a pair of seven-inning games on Saturday and a nine-inning game on Sunday. First pitch for Saturday is slated for noon.