SAN ANTONIO – The St. Mary's Baseball team fought back from a 5-0 deficit after the first inning to take an 8-7 lead in the fifth, but the visiting UAFS Lions were able to tack on two in the seventh for the 9-8 win in the first game of a four-game series.
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The Rattlers (3-6, 3-6 Lone Star) saw some solid relief pitching from freshman
Brandon Vasquez (Round Rock, Texas), junior
Brett Brown (Sinton, Texas) and junior
Andrew Girod (San Antonio) as the trio combined to allow two earned runs on eight hits. Brown was tagged with the loss (0-1), though both runs he allowed were unearned in his 2.1 innings of work.
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Senior
Jake Mares (Fort Worth, Texas) was 2-for-3 with an RBI, run scored and two stolen bases. Mares is now two swipes shy of tying the St. Mary's career record of 73 by Brandon Bippert (1998-2001).
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Junior
Clay Bradford (Atascocita, Texas) also added two hits, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and run, while senior
Brandon Broughton (Corpus Christi, Texas) hit his team-leading third home run of the year.
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The two teams return to the diamond on Saturday for a doubleheader. First pitch for game one is slated for 2 p.m.
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