Baseball Hosts Cross Town Foe; Moves Game Time to 4 p.m.

This Week in Rattlers Baseball
Our Lady of the Lake (4-7) at St. Mary's (6-2)
February 11 // Game 9 // San Antonio // Dickson Stadium
Broadcast: FloCollege • Play-by-Play: Rob Shadow

Game Time Change: Due to impending weather forecast in San Antonio, the game time for Tuesday has been moved to 4 p.m.

Joining the Ranks: St. Mary's jumped into the NCBWA South Central Region poll after starting the season 6-2. The Rattlers are ranked 7th with 30 points. Angelo State leads the region with 78 points and six of the eight first-place votes in the first poll of the year.

Jake From St. Mary's: Senior Jake Elizondo has reached base safely in all eight games this season and is hitting .333. The middle infielder is second on the team with 10 hits, has scored a team-best 12 runs and is tied for the team lead in RBIs with Jacob King, as each have eight.  Elizondo is also a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen bases.

A Rose by Any Other Name: Junior Hagen Rose has yet to allow an earned run this season, posting a record of 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 12 innings pitched. He has struck out 10 and foes are hitting only .154 against him. He is the pitcher in the league to have multiple wins and an unblemished ERA. 

Swiper, No Swiping: Junior Tristan Moreno tied the school record stealing three bases in the first game on Saturday at Oklahoma Christian. Moreno becomes the ninth different Rattler to swipe three bags in a single game, and the first since Clay Bradford stole three against UT Tyler on April 23, 2022.

Scouting The Opposition: Our Lady of the Lake is 4-7 on the young season, winning three of four from Indiana South Bend over the weekend. Brandon Betancourt and Jimmy Valle are both hitting .429 to pace the Saints offense, while Jack Kalisky has two saves in five appearances with a 1.42 ERA. He is also hitting .294 and is tied for the team lead with 10 hits, four of which are for extra bases.

Anchors: Only senior first baseman Hogan Heller and junior left fielder Garrett Brooks have started all eight games this season at the same position. Senior Jake Elizondo has been in the starting lineup all eight games, but he's started four at second base, three at shortstop and one at designated hitter.

At Your Own Risk: Fifth-year senior Easton Parrish threw out a pair of would-be base stealers last week at Oklahoma Christian. Parrish has now gunned down 20 runners in his career, after throwing out eight a season ago.

Picked Ninth: St. Mary's has been picked to finish ninth in the Lone Star Conference preseason poll. The Rattlers, who finished 20-30 in 2024, received 205 points in a vote by the league's head coaches, athletics communication personnel and selected media members. Angelo State, which played for the national championship a season ago, was predicted to win the league in 2025, garnering 29 of the 39 first-place votes and 483 points. Defending LSC Champions, Lubbock Christian, was picked second with five first-place votes and 457 points. West Texas A&M, UT Tyler and St. Edward's round out the top five.

Taking the Fifth: Pitchers Brett Brown and Javier De Alejandro, outfielder Trey Guajardo and utility player Easton Parrish have all returned to the 2025 team for a fifth season of eligibility. Brown was 1-0 in 19 appearances a season ago with two saves, while De Alejandro was 1-8, starting all 12 of his appearances. Guajardo played 43 of the team's 50 games, hitting .226, while Parrish started all 48 he played, hitting .299 and leading the team with five triples.

Returning Runs: St. Mary's returns 64.6 percent of its production in runs from the 2024 season, and return the top two run scorers in Jake Elizondo (44) and Garrett Brooks (42). Brooks also led the team with 15 hits, 14 doubles and eight home runs in his first season. 

Nine New Faces: The Rattlers return 23 letterwinners from last year's squad and welcome four transfers and five freshmen to the fold. 

Watch List: Senior infielder Brendan Concannon was named a Player to Watch by the Lone Star Conference. Concannon was leading the team with a .429 batting average, .651 slugging percentage and a .486 on-base percentage when he suffered a season-ending injury. Junior Kaleb Gauna was 5-3 in 2024, pitching 52 innings to be named a Pitcher to Watch. Gauna struck out 42, starting 12 of his 13 appearances.

A Burst of Speed: Senior Jake Elizondo collected over 34 percent of the team's stolen bases a season ago, swiping 13 of the 53 bags.

Season 75: St. Mary's begins its 75th year of baseball in 2025. The Rattlers entered the year 1989-1115 all-time and have made seven NCAA Postseason appearances since joining Division II in 2000.