SAN ANTONIO — Sometimes, you have to tip your hat to the opponent, and the No. 8 UT Tyler Patriots came in focused on the goal at hand, winning the Lone Star Conference regular season title for the first time in school history and accomplished that goal on Saturday by winning both games of the doubleheader, 3-0 and 6-4 at Dickson Stadium.
The Rattlers will finish either second or third in the final standings, depending on the outcome of the regular season finale on Sunday at 1 p.m. The team will celebrate the seniors on the roster before the contest, with the ceremony scheduled to start at 12:30.
GAME ONE (UTT 3, StMU 0)
For the second-straight game, the Rattlers outhit the Patriots, but were unable to push any runs across, falling 3-0 in the first game of the doubleheader.
Senior
Garrett Brooks (Spring Branch, Texas) and sophomore
Rob Gonzalez (San Antonio) each had two hits, as the Rattlers collected seven hits, while UTT scored its three runs on six hits with two Rattler errors.
Sophomore
Derek Maples (San Antonio) took the hard-luck loss on the hill. He pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits with two walks and five strikeouts to fall to 4-2 overall. Junior
Brandon Vasquez (Round Rock, Texas) gave up an unearned run on two hits over the final two innings with a strikeout.
UT Tyler scored two runs in the second inning and added an insurance run in the sixth.
GAME TWO (UTT 6, StMU 4)
The Rattlers answered the Patriots run in the top of the first with three in the bottom half of the inning for the first runs of the series and held the lead until UT Tyler scored four in the fourth. StMU got one run back in the fifth, but the Patriots scored a single run in the seventh for the 6-4 final.
Junior
Eric Tenery (Kerrville, Texas) lost for the first time in 2026, moving to 7-1 after allowing two earned runs (five total) on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
Braeden Brown (Sinton, Texas),
Matthew Janecek (Houston) and
Edward Mendoza (Eagle Pass, Texas) worked in relief. The quartet combined to strike out 11 batters, the second time in the series and the 12th time this season, the pitching staff has struck out double-digit batters in a game.
Offensively, junior
Ashton Beaird (San Antonio) was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, and he was hit by another pitch, while
Ethan Hughes (League City, Texas) drove in two runs and walked twice for a 1-for-1 day.
