SAN ANTONIO — In a pair of back-and-forth affairs, the No. 17 St. Mary's University Baseball team ended both games ahead on the scoreboard, 5-4 and 9-7, on Friday evening against Cameron.
The two teams have adjusted the remainder of the series schedule after already being affected by wet weather and will play a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at 2 p.m.
GAME ONE RECAP (StMU 5, CU 4)
The teams played a see-saw affair with three ties before the Rattlers scored in the bottom of the ninth to walk off the series opener, in the scheduled 7-inning contest.
Cameron scored one in the third, and the Rattlers knotted things in the fifth. Each team scored one in the seventh and two in the eighth, with St. Mary's scoring the game winner in the bottom of the ninth. StMU doubled up the Aggies in hits, 10-to-5.
Ashton Beaird (San Antonio) laid down a fantastic bunt down the third base line. He beat the throw from the third baseman, which was off target, scoring
Jacob Tanguma (Houston), who advanced to third on the bunt and scored the winning run on the throw. Tanguma led off the inning with a single to right center and moved to second on a walk by
Blake Allen (Bulverde, Texas).
Tanguma entered the game as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning and laid down a perfect squeeze bunt down the first base line to score
Jacob King (San Antonio) and knot the game at 2-2 to force extra innings.
Both teams had frightening moments late in the game, as Jared Hughes, the Aggies starting pitcher, was hit with a line drive up the middle in the bottom of the seventh. He was able to remain in the game, as was Rattlers' senior
Edward Mendoza (Eagle Pass, Texas), who was hit with a broken bat in the top of the eighth.
Beaird,
Ryan Alaniz (San Antonio) and
Rob Gonzalez (Pleasanton, Texas) all had two hits each in the game, and Gonzalez drove in three runs, including two in the bottom of the eighth to push the game to the ninth.
Junior
Brandon Vasquez (Round Rock, Texas) had his second quality start of the season, pitching six innings, allowing only one unearned run on two hits with two walks and four strikeouts in a no-decision. Mendoza pitched two innings, surrendering three runs on three hits with one walk and two strikeouts, and junior
Braeden Brown (Sinton, Texas) won his first game in 2026, striking out two of the three batters he faced in the ninth.
GAME TWO RECAP (StMU 9, CU 7)
The nightcap featured three lead changes and a 46-minute rain delay, but a four-run seventh inning lifted the Rattlers to a fifth-straight win.
Beaird, senior
Garrett Brooks (Spring Branch, Texas) and Gonzalez each had two hits, while Brooks collected a pair of RBIs.
Sophomore
Derek Maples (San Antonio) pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up three earned runs (four total) on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Junior
Matthew Janecek (Houston) improved to 3-2 on the year, pitching three innings in relief, including coming back out after the delay. He allowed one run on three hits with four walks and two strikeouts, and senior
Joel Burgess (Atascocita, Texas) earned his first save, pitching the final 2/3 of an inning with a strikeout and a hit batter.
For the first time all season, junior
Dillon Lopez (San Antonio) did not reach base safely, snapping a 37-game streak to start the season – the second-longest streak to begin a year and tied for the fourth-longest streak in school history. Lopez did lay down a sacrifice bunt and reach first via error, but that doesn't count in the streak.
St. Mary's scored its nine runs on nine hits and were aided by six Cameron errors, while the Aggies scored seven runs on nine hits with one Rattler miscue.
