This Week in Rattlers Baseball
Cameron at St. Mary's
April 10-12 // Games 39-42 // San Antonio // Dickson Stadium
Broadcast: FloCollege // Play-by-Play: Rob Shadow
Cameron Aggies
Record 16-21
Ranking NR/NR/NR
Head Coach Holden Capps
CU Record 16-21 (1st Year)
Career Record Same
St. Mary's Rattlers
Record 28-10
Ranking 17/21/RV
Head Coach Frank Kellner
StMU Record 77-64 (3rd Year)
Career Record Same
Polls are NCBWA/ABCA/DII Baseball
By The Numbers
36 Junior Dillon Lopez has been on base in each of his first 36 games of the season, the second-longest streak to start a season in the school's Division II history. In 2016, Bryan Ramirez reached base safely in the first 47 games of the year.
4 Junior Gabe Cook leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks fourth in the nation in WHIP at 0.88. Collin Bradley from Grand Valley State leads the nation at 0.77.
6 Six Rattlers are hitting over .300 on the season, and the team is oh, so close to the .300 mark, hitting .297. There are also three Rattlers with above a .500 slugging percentage in Dillon Lopez (.622), Garrett Brooks (.570) and Blake Allen (.504).
Week Eleven: The St. Mary's Baseball team hosts Cameron for a four-game series. The schedule has been altered due to impending storms in south Texas and the teams will play the doubleheader on Friday beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday is still scheduled for 2 p.m. with a 1 p.m. start on Sunday, but those are subject to change. Please stay tuned to Rattler Athletics through the website and social media for the most up-to-date information.
Inside the Series: St. Mary's holds a commanding 17-5 lead in the all-time series that started in 2020 when the Rattlers joined the Lone Star Conference. StMU is 11-3 at home and all three losses came in 2024.
Getting on Base: Junior Dillon Lopez has reached base in all 36 games in which he's played this season. It 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. There are five other players on the team who have reached base safely in 10 or more consecutive games in Ashton Beaird (15), Garrett Brooks (15), Jacob King (13), Ethan Hughes (11) and Blake Allen (10).
A Look Back: Last week against Eastern New Mexico, the Rattlers hit .378 in the four game series with a .559 slugging percentage and a .443 on-base percentage. The .378 batting average is the highest of any series this season, 15 points higher than the .363 the team hit in the opening week against Sul Ross State. See page 8 for a full series-by-series breakdown.
Goin' Streaking: Eight Rattlers are currently on multi-game hitting streaks, led by junior Dillon Lopez, who has matched his career-long with 10 straight games. Garrett Brooks is second with a six-game streak, while Ethan Hughes and Jacob King have both hit in five straight.
Another Quality Start: Junior Eric Tenery continues to shine for the Rattlers in the Sunday role. Tenery had his fourth quality start at Eastern New Mexico, throwing a combined shutout in the 11-0 win. He pitched 6.0 innings, allowing only four hits and striking out a career-high seven. Tenery has four of the team's six quality starts this season and ranks second in the league with 51 strikeouts.
He's a Freshman: Blake Allen leads the Lone Star Conference in runs scored per game with 1.27 a contest. He also ranks in the top 10 in stolen bases/game (9th, 0.43) and triples/game (5th, 0.10).
One Game Back: UT Tyler continues to hold a one-game lead over St. Mary's in the Lone Star standings. The Patriots are 29-9, while the Rattlers are 28-10 with three 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, when they didn't give up a free base. 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 13 strikeouts shy of 100 for his career, while Matthew Janecek needs 16... Dillon Lopez is five 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 177 innings... Senior Jacob King needs to cross home plate three more times for the 100th run of his career... Senior Edward Mendoza is tied for 7th in StMU history with five saves this season... The 10 saves by the team also already rank seventh in StMU single-season history... The Rattlers have drawn 207 walks this season, which ranks 17th in the nation, and they rank 26th overall and third in the LSC with 71 hit by pitch... St. Mary's is 18-1 this season when out-hitting the opponent and 15-0 when scoring 10 or more runs... The team is also 11-1 in games decided by two runs or fewer.
Ball Magnets: Ashton Beaird (19) and Jacob King (18)have combined to be hit by a pitch 37 times. The two rank 1-2 in the Lone Star Conference and sixth and ninth 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.
League Leaders: St. Mary's leads the Lone Star Conference statistics in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.10), triple plays (1), and walks allowed per nine innings (4.06). The team is also second in the LSC in shutouts (3), strikeouts per nine innings (8.5), and win/loss percentage (.737), and is third in base on balls (207), earned run average (5.36), hit by pitch (71), hits allowed/9 innings (9.77), runs (320), sacrifice bunts (31), and WHIP (1.54).
Free Bases: Ashton Beaird is getting on base a little more than every other plate appearance. Beaird has an on-base percentage of .516 after walking 25 times and getting hit 19 more. He has a .336 batting average (36-for-107) and is tied for third on the team with 35 runs scored.
Brooks Knows Ball: Senior 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.
