This Week in Rattlers Baseball
St. Mary's at UT Permian Basin
April 17-19 // Games 43-46 // Odessa // Roden Field
Broadcast: FloCollege
UT Permian Basin Falcons
Record 12-30
Ranking NR/NR/NR
Head Coach Justin Phillips
UTPB Record 32-60 (2nd Year)
Career Record Same
St. Mary's Rattlers
Record 32-10
Ranking 17/18/21
Head Coach Frank Kellner
StMU Record 81-64 (3rd Year)
Career Record Same
Polls are NCBWA/ABCA/DII Baseball
By The Numbers
50 Senior Garrett Brooks now has 50 multi-hit games in his St. Mary's career after going 3-for-5 in the series finale against Cameron. Brooks has 173 hits in 145 games over three seasons.
9 Senior Jacob King is currently on a nine-game hitting streak, the longest of his career, and the second-longest on the team this season behind the 10-game streak by Dillon Lopez. Eight others on the team are on at least a two-game streak.
9 St. Mary's scored at least one run in all nine innings during last week's series against Cameron. The Rattlers scattered their 24 runs for the series across the entirety of the game, and are outscoring opponents 344-234 this season.
Week Twelve: The St. Mary's Baseball team heads out on the road for the final time during the regular season, facing a four-game series at UT Permian Basin beginning on Friday at 2 p.m.
Inside the Series: St. Mary's holds a lopsided 47-28 lead in the all-time series against UT Permian Basin, though the two teams split the four game set a year ago. The Rattlers hold a 20-19 advantage in Odessa and are 14-9 in games since StMU joined the Lone Star Conference.
A Look Back: The Rattlers swept Cameron for their fourth series shutout of the season, and the second in a four-game series, winning 5-4, 9-7, 3-1 and 7-1. The team hit .315 with eight doubles, one triple and a home run by Ashton Beaird, while the pitching staff had a 2.38 ERA and held the Aggies to a .172 batting average.
Helping Hand: Freshman Blake Allen collected eight assists against Cameron in the first game of the doubleheader on Friday, tying for the third most in a game in St. Mary's history. He was one off the record of nine held by Derek Hamilton (5/2/2015) and Johnny Hernandez (5/20/2021), and he is the 11th player to have eight in a game.
Unselfish: St. Mary's tied the school record for sacrifice bunts in a game with six in the first game of Friday's doubleheader against Cameron. They became the third team to have six in a game, and the first since 2011. (3/12/2001 vs Minnesota State-Mankato; 2/25/2011 vs Oklahoma Panhandle State). Senior Jacob King tied his career-high with two sacrifices in the game, while Dillon Lopez, Rob Gonzalez, Matt Gauna and Jacob Tanguma each had one.
Going the Distance: Junior Gabe Cook became the second Rattler this season to throw a complete game, defeating Cameron 3-1 in Saturday's first game. Cook allowed only one run on three hits, with no walks and five strikeouts in the first complete game of his career. Cook is now 6-0 on the year with a 2.87 ERA.
Cooking With Gas: Gabe Cook currently ranks second in all of Division II and 11th in all of the NCAA in WHIP at 0.81. Cook is also fourth in Division II in hits allowed per nine innings at 5.36, which leads the Lone Star Conference. His 2.87 ERA also leads the league, and he is fifth in the league with six wins, as well as fifth with three saves.
Closing In: Senior Garrett Brooks is closing in on the top 10 in career RBI at St. Mary's. Brooks currently has 143 RBI to his name, while Rodney Williams (1993-96) and Donnie Perez (2016-19) are tied for ninth on the chart with 153. Brooks already ranks 10th in career home runs with 25. Fellow senior Jacob King is currently tied for 6th in hit by pitch, knotting current St. Edward's head coach Ryan Femath (2006-07). Junior Dillon Lopez is now eighth in runners thrown out with 21.
Getting on Base: Junior Dillon Lopez reached base in the first 37 games of the season, which is the second-longest streak to start a season in St. Mary's Division II history (2000-present) behind the 47 straight by Bryan Ramirez in 2016. It is also tied for the fourth-longest streak ever, tying Derek Mueller from 2021.
Goin' Streaking: Nine Rattlers are currently on multi-game hitting streaks, led by senior Jacob King, who has tied his career-long streak at nine games. Sophomore Rob Gonzalez has also tied his career-long with seven games. The longest streak this season was Dillon Lopez at 10 games, while Garrett Brooks has the longest streak of active players with his 11-game streak from a year ago.
Another Quality Start: Junior Eric Tenery continues to shine for the Rattlers in the game four starting role. Tenery had his fifth quality start against Cameron. He pitched 6.0 innings, allowing only one run on three hits. Tenery has five of the team's nine quality starts this season and ranks third in the league with 53 strikeouts.
One Game Back: UT Tyler continues to hold a one-game lead over St. Mary's in the Lone Star standings. The Patriots are 33-9, while the Rattlers are 32-10 with two weeks remaining in the regular season. The two teams meet in the final week.
Top of the Mound: The Rattlers pitching staff has put together some impressive numbers this season. Derek Maples currently leads the LSC in ERA at 2.82, while Gabe Cook leads with only 5.63 hits allowed per nine innings and a 0.88 WHIP, Edward Mendoza leads with five saves and Eric Tenery is second in strikeouts with 51.
Eliminating The Freebies: Three times this year, StMU pitchers have done something that hadn't happened in over four seasons, not giving up a free base during a game. The Rattlers currently lead the Lone Star in fewest walks per nine innings (4.06) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.10).
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. Brooks, Cook and Lopez were also named the NCBWA South Central Region Athlete of the Week.
By The Numbers: Junior Gabe Cook is eight strikeouts shy of 100 for his career, while Matthew Janecek needs 14... Dillon Lopez is three hits shy of 100 for his career... Senior Kaleb Gauna needs two more K's for 150 strikeouts in his career... Senior Edward Mendoza is tied for 7th in StMU history with five saves this season... The 11 saves by the team is also tied for third in StMU single-season history.
Ball Magnets: Jacob King (20) and Ashton Beaird (19) have combined to be hit by a pitch 39 times. The two rank 1-2 in the Lone Star Conference and fifth and 10th 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 lays 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.
League Leaders: St. Mary's leads the Lone Star Conference statistics in sacrifice bunts (40), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.11), triple plays (1). The team is also second in the LSC in ERA (5.06), shutouts (3), win/loss percentage (.756), and walks allowed per nine innings (3.97).
