SAN ANTONIO — It wasn't the finish at home the 19 seniors wanted for the final regular-season home game at Dickson Stadium, dropping an 8-4 contest to UT Permian Basin on Saturday afternoon.
The Rattlers (28-18, 26-18) and Falcons (17-28, 17-27) split the series, giving St. Mary's 10 splits or better in the 11 series this season, with one remaining on the slate. StMU heads to No. 7 UT Tyler for the final four-game set of the year. The Patriots are 37-9 overall and have won 10 straight games.
Mother Nature pushed the start time back by 35 minutes as she unleashed lightning in the area during warmups, but the Rattlers were able to honor the 19 seniors and their families before first pitch.
Junior
Jaxon Daigre (Pinehurst, Texas) was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored and a stolen base, while senior
Jacob King (San Antonio) was 2-for-4.
The Rattlers utilized five pitchers in the game, with junior
Hagen Rose (Troy, Texas) taking the loss to move to 4-2 on the year. He gave up three earned runs on five hits with four walks and a strikeout. Sophomore
Matthew Janecek (Houston), senior
Matt Sandoval (Uvalde, Texas), junior
Ryan Romine (San Antonio) and senior
Brett Brown (Sinton, Texas) also saw action on the hill.
On the flip side, UTPB senior Trevor Barth pitched a complete game, throwing 128 pitches. The Rattlers recorded 10 hits against him, scoring four runs. He walked five and struck out three, and his defense was able to turn four double plays to get him out of trouble several times.
UTPB scored one run in the fourth and three in the fifth for the early 4-0 lead. The Rattlers answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth to pull within one, 4-3. Malone started things off with a single to right center, advancing to third on a double down the right field line by Daigre. Elizondo roped a ball down the right field line for a triple to score the first two runs, and he scored on a sacrifice fly to centerfield off the bat of Parrish.
A solo home run pushed the lead for the Falcons back to two in the sixth, 5-3. The Rattlers were once again able to pull within one run in the seventh. Daigre singled up the middle, stole second, flew to third on a flyout to right field by Elizondo, and scored on a Lopez single to left.
Unfortunately, the Falcons were able to score three in the eighth and hold on for the 8-4 win to even the series at 2-2.
