Battle of the Saints Baseball-Style Starts Friday

St. Edward's at St. Mary's
March 21-23 // Games 27-30 // San Antonio // Dickson Stadium
Broadcast: FloCollege • Play-by-Play: Rob Shadow

St. Edward's
Record    22-8, 21-7 LSC
Ranking    15
Head Coach    Ryan Femath
SEU Record    45-37 (2nd Year)
Career Record    Same

St. Mary's Rattlers
Record    16-10, 14-10 LSC
Ranking    NR
Head Coach    Frank Kellner
StMU Record    36-40 (2nd Year)
Career Record    Same

Tough Test: St. Mary's Baseball returns home to host 15th-ranked St. Edward's in the Battle of the Saints series this week. The Rattlers have already won the annual competition between the two teams, but bragging rights are still on the line.

Familiar Faces: For long-time fans of the Rattlers, the coaching staff for St. Edward's is very familiar as head coach Ryan Femath and assistant coach Johnny Panatex are both graduates of StMU. Femath played for the Rattlers in 2006-07 and was in the dugout for 15 seasons as an assistant for Charlie Migl. Panatex pitched for the Rattlers from 2019-21 and was a graduate assistant coach in 2022. The Hilltoppers also have Diego Solis on their roster, who is the younger brother of Rattlers graduate assistant coach Rudy Solis.

Regionally Ranked: The Rattlers are holding on in the NCBWA South Central Regional rankings, coming in at 10th this week, earning 12 points. UT Tyler remains in the top spot for the second-straight week with four of the eight first-place votes and 74 points.

Heating Up: Junior left fielder Garrett Brooks has hit safely in each of the last nine games, the longest active streak on the team and the second-longest of the season, two behind the 11-game streak by Jake Elizondo. Brooks is hitting .432 during the stretch, with a .514 slugging percentage and a team-best 16 hits. 

Get Them On: This season, when there are runners on base, coach Frank Kellner wishes he could clone Hogan Heller. The senior first baseman is hitting .548 (23-for-42) with runners on base and .571 (16-for-28) with runners in scoring position. He successfully advances the runners over 70% of the time and is tied for team lead with five two-out RBIs.

A Rose by Any Other Name: Junior Hagen Rose leads the Rattlers with a 4-1 record and a 2.37 ERA. In 30.1 innings the junior transfer has allowed only eight earned runs with a 2.3:1 K:BB ratio and opponents are hitting only .233 against him. 

In a Pinch: The Rattlers have had four different hitters deliver at the plate when entered as a pinch hitter this season. Brandon Ermis (3-for-3), Matt Gauna (3-for-7) and Christian Keller (3-for-4) each have three hits, while Rob Gonzalez (1-for-2) has the other. These four are 10-for-16, while the other nine are 0-for-14.

Closing In: The Rattlers are only four wins shy of matching their win total from the 2024 season. StMU is 16-10 in 2025, while the team was 20-30 in 2024.

It's Been A While: The five home runs the Rattlers hit in game three against Texas A&M International are the most in a game since the team blasted six at Newman on April 9, 2016. StMU hit nine home runs in the four-game series, with both Easton Parrish and Brendan Concannon hitting three each - their first blasts of the year.

Quite the Career: Senior Jake Elizondo currently ranks among the Division II active career leaders in four categories, ranking 21st in at bats (635), 22nd in games played (173), 41st in hits (182) and 44th in runs (131). 

Getting the Early Jump: St. Mary's is 10-1 this season when scoring in the first inning and 13-5 when scoring first in the game. On the flip side, the Rattlers are 3-5 when the opposition scores the first run of the game.

Marked Improvement: Senior first baseman Hogan Heller is off to a terrific start to the 2025 season, hitting .395 through 26 games with 10 hits for extra bases, a .605 slugging percentage, a .462 on-base percentage and a .994 fielding percentage, making only one error in 172 chances at first base. A season ago, Heller hit .269 in 34 games, with a .343 slugging and .410 on-base percentage.

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.

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.