SAN ANTONIO — The St. Mary's University Baseball team walked off both games of a doubleheader on Saturday at Dickson Stadium, winning game one 7-6 in nine innings and game two 4-3 in seven innings.
Game one was slated to be a seven-inning game, but the two teams were knotted at 2-2, and each scored four in the eighth for a 6-6 tie. Junior
Matthew Janecek (Houston) got the Rattlers out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the ninth, coming in and forcing the Javelinas to ground out to end the threat, and keep them off the scoreboard.
With one out, sophomore
Ryan Alaniz (San Antonio) was hit with the first pitch of the at-bat and sophomore
Trae Allen (Kyle, Texas) entered to pinch run. He moved to second on a throwing error by the pitcher on a failed pickoff move. With two outs, senior
Garrett Brooks (Spring Branch, Texas) was intentionally walked, and senior
Jacob King blasted a single off the glove of a diving shortstop to score Allen from second.
In the second game of the twinbill, the Javelinas (15-10) took a 3-1 lead over the Rattlers (18-7) in the top of the sixth with three runs, but StMU immediately answered with two runs to tie things up at 3-3. Janecek got two quick groundouts, hit a batter and then fanned Landon Salinas to once again set up late-game heroics.
Freshman
Blake Allen (Bulverde, Texas) walked and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore
Rob Gonzalez (Pleasanton, Texas). After a TAMUK pitching change, Alaniz singled through the right side of the infield, allowing the speedy Allen to touch home plate and give the Rattlers a 3-0 lead in the four-game series.
Janecek pitched 1/3 of an inning in game one, needing three pitches to get the win, while he threw the final 1 2/3 innings of game two, walking two and striking out one without surrendering a hit. He is now 2-1 on the season.
Sophomore
Derek Maples (San Antonio) pitched the first five innings of the first contest, giving up one earned run on four hits with four walks and six strikeouts.
Joel Burgess (Atascocita, Texas),
Edward Mendoza (Eagle Pass, Texas) and
Braeden Brown (Sinton, Texas) all worked in relief between Maples and Janecek.
Game two starter
Gabe Cook (San Antonio) pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits with a pair of walks and three strikeouts, and 41 of his 67 pitches were strikes in the game.
St. Mary's scored its seven runs in the first game on seven hits by seven different players. Junior
Ethan Hughes (League City, Texas) hit his second home run in a Rattlers uniform, blasting a solo shot to right field in the sixth to tie the score at 2-2. In game two, StMU scored four runs on six hits, and
Blake Allen's double in the third inning was the only extra-base hit.
The two clubs will conclude the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.
