Baseball Faces Rivals in First Week of LSC Tournament

St. Mary's at St. Edward's
May 2-4 // Games 51-53 // Austin // Lucian Hamilton Field
Broadcast: FloCollege

St. Edward's Hilltoppers
Record    32-18, 31-17 LSC
Ranking    RV
Head Coach    Ryan Femath
SEU Record    55-47 (2nd Year)
Career Record    Same

St. Mary's Rattlers
Record    28-22, 26-22 LSC
Ranking    NR
Head Coach    Frank Kellner
StMU Record    48-52 (2nd Year)
Career Record    Same

Conference Tournament Time: St. Mary's advances to the Lone Star Conference Tournament for the fourth time in five years. Twice the Rattlers have been ousted in the opening series, while in 2021 the team made the semifinals. This is the second time St. Mary's and St. Edward's have met in the first week of the tournament, as the Hilltoppers won both games in 2023 in Austin.

Time Change: The first game of the series has been moved up to hours to a noon start to try to beat the inclement weather scheduled in Austin on Friday.

In the Postseason: St. Mary's has a 3-6 record all-time in the Lone Star Conference Tournament. The team is 0-3 against Angelo State, 0-1 vs Lubbock Christian, 2-0 vs Oklahoma Christian, and 1-2 vs St. Edward's. During the first week the team is 2-4 and has yet to play the 'if necessary' game as all three years have been sweeps.

A Look Back: St. Edward's and St. Mary's split the four games during the regular season with the Rattlers winning the first two games before the Hilltoppers came back to win the next two. Senior Easton Parrish hit two of the team's four home runs and added a sacrifice fly to lead the team with four RBIs. Junior Kaleb Gauna pitched a complete game shutout, giving up only two hits and striking out seven.

Topping the Expectations: Preseason prognosticators predicted the Rattlers to finish ninth in the Lone Star Conference race, however St. Mary's finished three spots higher, ending in sixth place. 

Hitting the Books: Senior catcher Easton Parrish was awarded the department of athletics Male Scholar Athlete of the Year award at the Fang Awards on Tuesday evening. Parrish is finishing his master's degree in business administration after earning a bachelor's degree in exercise & sport science. He has a 3.93 GPA in grad school after having a 3.92 undergrad GPA.

On Second Thought: St. Mary's is outscoring its opponents 67 to 29 in the second inning this season. The +38 run differential is the largest of any of the nine innings. The Rattlers are also +20 in the third frame.

No Hits For You: St. Mary's pitchers currently rank third in the Lone Star Conference in fewest hits allowed per nine innings with 9.56. Top-ranked Angelo State leads the league with 9.07. The Rattlers also rank fifth in the league in WHIP (walks + hits/innings pitched) at 1.67.

Touch Them All: Thirteen different Rattlers have combined to hit the 54 home runs, led by Easton Parrish with 13. 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.

Split or Better: St. Mary's either split or won 10 of the 12 Lone Star series this season, and was shut out only against #3 UT Tyler.

No Runs For You: After not having one last season, the Rattlers have recorded three shutouts this year, which ranks fourth in the Lone Star Conference and 45th 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 dropped back to ninth in the 12th NCBWA South Central Regional ranking, after spending one week at No. 8. The Rattlers have 17 points, while Angelo State holds the top spot for the fifth week in a row, earning seven of the eight first-place votes and 79 points.

Holding the Lead: St. Mary's is a perfect 24-0 this season when leading the game after six innings and is 3-19 when trailing. The Rattlers are also 10-0 when leading after seven, and 2-1 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 25 extra base hits (11 doubles, one triple, 13 home runs) and 20 singles in his 45 hits in 2025. He is one of six players in the Lone Star Conference to have more than 50% of his hits be longer than singles, joining Brevin McCool, LCU (48/79), Kyle Micklus, WT (30/59), Zane Roos, CU (27/51), Hunter Jones, OC (27/51) and Justin Harris, ASU (25/46).

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).

Quite the Career: Senior Jake Elizondo currently ranks among the Division II active career leaders in four categories, ranking 17th in at bats (729), 21st in games played (197), 35th in hits (213), and 38th in runs scored (155). Easton Parrish also ranks 231st with 154 hits.