Baseball Can't Sustain Leads in Doubleheader

KINGSVILLE, Texas – The St. Mary's Baseball team took early leads in both games of the doubleheader at Texas A&M-Kingsville but were unable to keep them, falling 11-5 and 4-1 on Saturday.
 
The Rattlers move to 16-17 on the year and 14-17 in Lone Star Conference play, while the Javelinas improve to 21-16 overall and 20-15 in the league.
 
St. Mary's will try to even the series in the finale on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Kingsville.
 
GAME ONE RECAP
Senior Clay Bradford (Atascocita, Texas) fell to 3-4 on the year. He pitched four innings, allowing eight runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Both Josh Buske (San Antonio) and Matt Bundy (Whitehouse, Texas) worked in relief and Bundy posted two outs in two batters faced.
 
Bradford also drove in two runs in trying to help his own cause, while seniors Jake Mares (Fort Worth, Texas) and Ryan McGowen (San Antonio) and junior Easton Parrish (LaVernia, Texas) each had two hits as the Rattlers scored five runs on 10 hits.
 
The Rattlers struck early, scoring one in the top of the first. King singled with one out and came around to score on a double down the left field line by Parrish. It is the 11th double of the year for Parrish, three more than any other Rattler.
 
The super senior combo doubled the StMU lead in the third. McGowen led off with a single and came around to score on a double down the left field line by Mares. Mares moved to third on a throwing error by the shortstop and scored two batters later when ball four to Parrish was wild for a 3-0 tally.
 
The Javelinas scored six runs on six hits with one Rattler error in the bottom of the third to take a 6-3 advantage and added two runs on two hits in the fifth to push the lead to 8-3.
 
In the sixth with one out, Guajardo singled to shortstop and took advantage of a throwing error to move to second base. McGowen followed with a single to third. A single in the 5-6 hole by Mares loaded the bases. With two outs, Bradford drove in a pair with a single to left for the 8-5 score.
 
TAMUK answered with three in the bottom half of the inning for the 11-5 victory.
 
GAME TWO RECAP
For the fourth-straight game, the Rattlers scored in the first inning. Mares led off the game with a single to centerfield, moved to second on a single to short by freshman Jacob King (San Antonio) and hustled to third on a wild pitch. Bradford hit a sacrifice fly to right field for the 1-0 lead.
 
Kingsville put up a picket fence, scoring one run each in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to build a 4-1 advantage for the doubleheader sweep.
 
It is the fourth-straight start for senior John Curtis (Athens, Tenn.) where the Rattlers have struggled to get him run support as they've scored three or fewer in each. Curtis falls to 2-3 on the year after giving up four runs on five hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
 
Mares (3-4) and Goins (2-3) combined for five of the team's eight hits in the nightcap