Mares Breaks Stolen Base Record; Baseball Beats OLLU

SAN ANTONIO – St. Mary's Baseball carried over the momentum from the last two games of the weekend, winning a 6-4 battle on Tuesday against Our Lady of the Lake.
 
On a scheduled pitch-by-committee contest, the Rattlers (6-7) used six pitchers and five were extremely effective as junior Jared Sherer (San Antonio) pitched for the first time in the Gold & Blue and struck out the side in the seventh to earn the win. Freshman Kaleb Gauna (Hondo, Texas) earned the first save of his career, facing the minimum in the ninth after his defense turned a double play to end the game. Junior Karlo Kalifa (Round Rock, Texas) started on the hill, working four innings. He allowed one run on four hits, walking two and striking out one.
 
Senior Brandon Broughton (Corpus Christi, Texas) was a perfect 3-for-3 on the night with three sharply hit balls to left to drive in three runs and senior Jake Mares (Fort Worth, Texas) was 3-for-4 with four runs scored. He also stole two bases, breaking the St. Mary's career stolen bases record of 73 by Brandon Bippert (1998-2001).
 
The Rattlers struck early, plating two runs in the first frame. Mares reached on a fielding error by his defensive counterpart. Junior Clay Bradford (Atascocita, Texas) singled to right and Mares scored on a single down the left field line by Broughton. Junior Easton Parrish (La Vernia, Texas) walked and Rudy Solis (El Paso, Texas) singled to shallow center to plate Bradford.
 
StMU tacked on another run in the third. Mares again got things going, singling through the right side and he stole second base. Broughton singled to left field for the second time to make the score 3-0.
 
The Saints (8-8) got one run back in the top of the fourth, though they could have scored more as they were called for runner's interference and were thrown out trying to steal second base.
 
OLLU tied the score with two runs in the top of the fifth, but the Rattlers immediately answered. Freshman Jacob King (San Antonio) was hit by a pitch on the first of the frame. Mares singled on a terrific bunt up the first base line. The pair pulled off the successful double steal, giving Mares the all-time St. Mary's stolen base record with 74. Broughton scored King on a sacrifice fly to right field for the 4-3 advantage.
 
In the top of the sixth, the Saints knotted the score again and the Rattlers regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh. Sophomore Jorge Cuevas (El Paso) doubled to left, moved to third on an error by the pitcher on an attempted sacrifice bunt by King and scored on a groundout by Mares.
 
Broughton doubled to left center to lead off the eighth and Trey Guajardo (San Juan, Texas) came in to run for him. With one out, Tyler Pauly (Fischer, Texas) drew a five-pitch walk and Ryan McGowen (San Antonio) walked to load the bases. In his first collegiate at bat, redshirt freshman Ryan Romine (San Antonio) singled to right to plate the team's sixth run of the night.
 
The Rattlers head to Oklahoma City to begin a four-game series at Oklahoma Christian on Friday at 5 p.m.