Final Home Series for Baseball Begins Thursday

This Week in Rattlers Baseball
UT Permian Basin at St. Mary's
April 17-19 // Games 43-46 // San Antonio // Dickson Stadium
Broadcast: FloCollege • Play-by-Play: Rob Shadow

UT Permian Basin Falcons
Record    15-26, 15-25 LSC
Ranking    NR
Head Coach    Justin Phillips
UTPB Record    15-26 (1st Year)
Career Record    Same

St. Mary's Rattlers
Record    26-16, 24-16 LSC
Ranking    NR
Head Coach    Frank Kellner
StMU Record    46-46 (2nd Year)
Career Record    Same

Final Home Stand: St. Mary's hosts UT Permian Basin for the final home series of the 2025 regular season, beginning on Thursday at 6 p.m. Saturday will be both Senior Day (begins at 12:30) and the final Beverages at the Ballpark.

Beverages at the Ballpark: On Saturday, purchase an exclusive $25 VIP ticket to gain access to Rattler Ridge behind the third-base dugout and enjoy pizza and adult beverages with a valid 21+ ID. 

On Second Thought: St. Mary's is outscoring its opponents 65 to 24 in the second inning this season. The +41 run differential is the largest of any of the nine innings. The Rattlers are also +20 in the third frame.

Home Sweet Home: With a series win over UT Permian Basin, the Rattlers would establish the most home wins since joining the Lone Star Conference. The 2023 team won 16 games at home, while this year's team stands at 14-8 at Dickson Stadium.

Hard to Hit: Both juniors Hagen Rose and Kaleb Gauna rank in the top 10 in the Lone Star Conference in lowest opponent batting average. Rose ranks eighth at .261, while Gauna is right behind him in ninth at .266. Dax Dathe from Angelo State leads the league with an opponent average of .192. 

Climbing the Charts: St. Mary's has hit 52 home runs this season, moving into ninth on the school's single-season chart. The 2025 club moved past the 2016 (46), 1996 (44) and 2008 (44) teams last week. The 1998 squad owns the record with 79 homers.

Whatever it Takes: Junior Garrett Brooks made the move from left field to first base eight games ago, and has responded by making only one error in 56 chances in the field (.982 fielding percentage). His bat hasn't suffered from the new position either, as he has hits in seven of the eight games, four multi-hit games, and home runs in five contests - including each of the last three.

Touch Them All: Thirteen different Rattlers have combined to hit the 52 home runs, led by Easton Parrish with 12. The 13 players is the most in St. Mary's Division II history, bettering the previous record of 12 players by the 2003, 2004 and 2007 teams.

No Runs For You: After not having one last season, the Rattlers have recorded three shutouts this year, which ranks second in the Lone Star Conference and 35th in the nation. Kaleb Gauna has a complete-game shutout, while the other two are combined shutouts. Cameron Hodges and Carlos Flores Jr., have pitched in both.

Regionally Ranked: The Rattlers held steady in the NCBWA South Central Regional rankings, coming in at 9th for the fourth straight week, earning 18 points. Angelo State holds the top spot for the third week in a row, earning even of the eight first-place votes and 79 points.

Holding the Lead: St. Mary's is a perfect 23-0 this season when leading the game after six innings and is 2-14 when trailing. The Rattlers are also 9-0 when leading after seven, and 2-0 when tied.

Taking the Extra Base: Senior Easton Parrish is the only player on the team who has more (min. 100 AB) extra base hits than singles. Parrish has 22 extra base hits (nine doubles, one triple, 12 home runs) and 14 singles in his 36 hits in 2025. He is one of five players in the Lone Star Conference to have more than 50% of his hits be longer than singles, joining Brevin McCool, LCU (39/67), Hunter Jones, OC (22/41), Justin Harris, ASU (21/40), and Daniel Pruitt, ENMU (16/27).

Getting On Base: Senior Jake Elizondo has reached base safely in 12 consecutive games. Parrish leads the team with an active streak of 13, one off the longest of the year by Trey Guajardo and Easton Parrish.

It's An Honor: Junior pitcher Kaleb Gauna was named both the Lone Star Conference and NCBWA South Central Region Pitcher of the Week on March 25-26. Gauna pitched a two-hit shutout against then-#15 St. Edward's, and had a no hitter through 6 1/3 innings. He needed only 90 pitches for the complete game, and is the first since 2022 to throw a complete game shutout for the Rattlers (Steven Medrano at ENMU).

Split or Better: St. Mary's has either split or won nine of the 10 Lone Star series this season, dropping only three of four to then-#2 Angelo State. Last year, the Rattlers split or won six series.

Quite the Career: Senior Jake Elizondo currently ranks among the Division II active career leaders in four categories, ranking 17th in at bats (686), 21st in games played (185), 31st in hits (200), and 40th in runs scored (144). Easton Parrish also ranks 240th with 140 hits. 

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. Moreno is second on the team with 13 stolen bases this season.