This Week in Rattlers Baseball
St. Mary's at Eastern New Mexico
April 2-4 // Games 35-38 // Portales, N.M. // Greyhound Baseball Field
E. New Mexico Greyhounds
Record 13-21
Ranking NR/NR/NR
Head Coach Riley Price
ENMU Record 112-181 (7th Year)
Career Record Same
St. Mary's Rattlers
Record 25-9
Ranking 14/25/RV
Head Coach Frank Kellner
StMU Record 74-63 (3rd Year)
Career Record Same
Polls are NCBWA/ABCA/DII Baseball
By The Numbers
82 The Rattlers have scored 82 more runs than the opposition in 2026 (286-204). St. Mary's currently ranks fourth in the Lone Star and 52nd nationally with 8.4 runs per game, and rank third in the LSC and 72nd with an ERA of 5.47
14 St. Mary's was a perfect 14-for-14 in stolen bases in the four game series against West Texas A&M last week. Nine different players stole at least one bag, with freshman Blake Allen leading the way with four.
11 Junior Dillon Lopez currently leads the Lone Star Conference, throwing out 11 attempted base stealers. It is tied for 12th on the StMU single-season charts (DII Era only).
Week Ten: The St. Mary's Baseball team travels to Portales, N.M. for a four-game series beginning on Thursday at 6 p.m. (Central). The games are a day earlier this week due to the Easter holiday. The Greyhounds are 13-21 on the year and are coming off a 3-1 series win over Oklahoma Christian.
Inside the Series: St. Mary's holds a slight 17-15 edge in the all-time series with ENMU, but the Greyhounds hold a 10-9 lead since the Rattlers joined the Lone Star Conference. In 2024, the last time StMU played in Portales, ENMU won three of the four games, and the two clubs split a season ago.
A Home Run for You: With Matt Gauna's home run on Friday against West Texas A&M out of the ninth spot, all nine spots in the batting order have hit at least one home run this season. Not surprisingly, the middle of the lineup has hit 18 of the 32 long balls this year.
Hitter of the Week: Junior Dillon Lopez was named the Lone Star Hitter of the Week after batting .692 against West Texas A&M. Lopez had nine hits, scored five runs and collected eight RBI. He also hit two home runs, laid down three sacrifice bunts, and was 2-for-2 in stolen bases. Lopez has reached base safely in all 32 games he's played this season.
Run, Rattlers, Run: In the series against West Texas A&M last week, St. Mary's stole 14 total bases, including eight in the series finale on Sunday. The 14 swipes are twice what they've stolen in any other series in 2026, and the eight steals in game four are the third-most in school history. The 1999 team swiped nine against Concordia on April 2, while the 2022 club stole nine against Cameron on April 8.
One Game Back: Both UT Dallas and UT Tyler swept their series last week against Texas A&M International and UT Permian Basin, respectively, to take a one-game lead over St. Mary's in the Lone Star standings. The Comets and Patriots are knotted at 26-8, while the Rattlers are 25-9. UTD is not eligible for postseason play, as they are in the first season of transitioning to DII.
Back-to-Back Jacks: Dillon Lopez hit a home run in both the third and fourth inning against West Texas A&M on Friday night. He is the first Rattler to hit home runs in consecutive at bats this year, and the first since Easton Parrish did so at Cameron on April 13, 2025.
It's An Honor: The Rattlers have had four honored by the Lone Star Conference this season, as Garrett Brooks (Feb. 3), Ashton Beaird (March 23), Gabe Cook (March 23) and Dillon Lopez (March 30) have all been named Athletes of the Week. Both Brooks (hitter) and Cook (pitcher) were also named the NCBWA South Central Region Athlete of the Week.
Eliminating The Freebies: Twice this year, St. Mary's pitchers have done something that hadn't happened in over four seasons, when they didn't give up a free base. In the finale against Texas A&M-Kingsville, Eric Tenery, Kaleb Gauna and Christian Molinar did not walk or hit a batter. In game two at St. Edward's, Gabe Cook and Daniel Vogt echoed the accomplishment. The previous time the staff did not allow a free base was Feb. 13, 2022 against Arkansas Tech in a 4-2 win.
By The Numbers: Sophomore Ryan Alaniz has reached base safely in 20 straight games, the second-longest active streak on the team behind the 32 by Dillon Lopez... Lopez is now 10 hits shy of 100 for his career... Senior Kaleb Gauna needs four more K's for 150 strikeouts in his career. He has fanned 146 in 176.2 innings... Senior Jacob King needs to cross home plate seven more times for the 100th run of his career, and he is three total bases shy of 200... Junior Gabe Cook is 18 strikeouts shy of 100 for his career, while Matthew Janecek needs 19... The Rattlers have drawn 195 walks this season, which ranks 11th in the nation, and they rank 18th overall and third in the LSC with 65 hit by pitch... St. Mary's is 15-1 this season when out-hitting the opponent and 13-0 when scoring 10 or more runs... The team is also 10-1 in games decided by two runs or fewer.
Ball Magnets: Jacob King and Ashton Beaird have combined to be hit by a pitch 34 times, with King being plunked 18 times and Beaird 16, though they hit from opposite sides of the plate. The two rank 1-2 in the Lone Star Conference and fifth and eighth in the nation, respectively. The school record for HBP in a season is 32 by David Nelson in 2001.
Made to be Broken: St. Mary's turned six double plays in the second game of the doubleheader against Texas A&M International, breaking the school record of four, done 10 times in St. Mary's history. The last time the Rattlers turned four was in 2023 against Angelo State. St. Mary's has turned 21 double plays this season.
League Leaders: St. Mary's leads the Lone Star Conference statistics in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.11), triple plays (1), and walks allowed per nine innings (4.03). The team is also second in the LSC in home runs (32), sacrifice bunts (28), shutouts (2), strikeouts per nine innings (8.5), and win/loss percentage (.735), and is third in base on balls (195), earned run average (5.47), hit by pitch (65), runs (286), and WHIP (1.54).
Free Bases: Ashton Beaird is getting on base every other plate appearance. Beaird has an on-base percentage of .518 after walking 25 times and getting hit 16 more. He has a .323 batting average (30-for-93) and is tied for third on the team with 30 runs scored.
Brooks Knows Ball: One week after earning both Lone Star and NCBWA South Central Region Hitter of the Week honors, senior 1B/RF Garrett Brooks tied the school single game record for walks in a game with four. Brooks becomes the 13th Rattler in school history to be walked four times, joining Dillon Lopez on the active list, as he drew four base on balls in the LSC Tournament against St. Edward's last season.
Triple Play: St. Mary's is one of eight teams in the nation to have turned a triple play this season. In the eighth inning of game two against Sul Ross State and runners on first and second base, Raithen Malone snagged a line drive, threw to Blake Allen at second, and he tossed the ball to Garrett Brooks at first, catching both runners off the bags.
Tie Goes to the Runner: Ashton Beaird tied the school record for stolen bases in a game, swiping three in game two at Sul Ross State on opening weekend. He is the 10th different Rattler to steal three bases, and the first since Tristan Moreno did so last season.
