Lone Star Tournament Week Two
May 7-9 // Tyler, Texas // Irving Ballpark // Broadcast: FloCollege
Angelo State Rams
Record 37-15
Ranking 19/13/21
Head Coach Kevin Brooks
ASU Record 874-379 (22nd Year)
Career Record Same
Lubbock Christian Chaps
Record 33-19
Ranking NR/NR/NR
Head Coach Nathan Blackwood
LCU Record 869-409 (23rd Year)
Career Record Same
St. Mary's Rattlers
Record 38-15
Ranking 22/RV/RV
Head Coach Frank Kellner
StMU Record 87-69 (3rd Year)
Career Record Same
UT Tyler Patriots
Record 40-10
Ranking 8/6/9
Head Coach Brent Porche
UTT Record 335-147 (10th Year)
Career Record 482-230 (14th Year)
By The Numbers
2 St. Mary's baseball advances to the second week of the Lone Star Conference Tournament for the second time in school history, joining the 2021 team. The Rattlers are now 6-9 all-time in the LSC Tournament after going 2-1 last week against West Texas A&M.
16 The Rattlers added two more saves in the opening weekend of the LSC Tournament and now have 16, which ties for the second-most in single season history at St. Mary's, trailing only the 20 by the 2012 team. The 2011 squad also had 16 saves.
3 Junior Ethan Hughes pinch hit in each game last week and reached base all three times, getting two singles and a walk with two RBIs, and he also stole his first base of the season against the Buffs.
Postseason Play: The St. Mary's Baseball team advances to the second week of the Lone Star Conference Tournament for the second time, and will face #19 Angelo State in the opening game at 2 p.m. on Thursday. The Rattlers will then face either Lubbock Christian or #8 UT Tyler in the second game at 11 a.m. or 3 p.m. on Friday.
The 411 on the LSC Tournament: UT Tyler accepts cards only at the ticket window and concession stand. Neither place accepts cash. Tickets are: Adult: $8 / Youth: $5 (Ages 5-12 )/ 4 and under free for a single day and Adult: $20 / Youth: $ 13 (Ages 5-12) for a full-tournament pass. Students from any participating university with current student ID receive free admission.
Lone Star Tournament History: The Rattlers are 6-9 all-time in the Lone Star Conference Tournament, finishing 3-2 at the 2021 tournament, but dropping the opening series in 2022, 2023 and 2025. For a full recap of the Rattlers in the tournament, see pages 6-7 of these notes.
A Look Back: The Rattlers won games one and three in the best-of-three series against West Texas A&M in the opening week of the LSC Tournament. The Rattlers won game one 12-4 and game three 2-1, with the Buffs winning 5-3 on Sunday. Sophomore Ryan Alaniz led the team with a .462 batting average with six singles and two RBI, while Ashton Beaird lead the team with four RBI, and he had a double and a triple among his five hits on the weekend. Matthew Janecek and Gabe Cook earned wins on the hill.
In the Polls: St. Mary's rose one spot in the NCBWA poll to No. 22, and they are getting votes in both the ABCA Coaches Poll and D2Baseball poll. The Rattlers reached a high of 14 on March 25 in the NCBWA poll and 15th in the ABCA poll.
A Strikeout For You... And You: All seven pitchers who threw last weekend against West Texas A&M struck out at least one batter and sophomore Derek Maples was one off his career high, fanning seven in six innings. Both Matthew Janecek and Eric Tenery struck out four, as the seven combined to fan 23 batters.
Small Ball: St. Mary's has climbed to third in the nation in sacrifice bunts this season with 50. West Florida leads all of Division II with 62. Four different players have five or more sacrifice bunts, led by Dillon Lopez with 13. Matt Mendez is second with nine, while Ashton Beaird has six and Rob Gonzalez has five. Lopez ranks fourth nationally, while Mendez is 16th.
Crossing the Plate: St. Mary's has scored 110 more runs than its opponents this season, 407-to-297. The Rattlers are +50 in the seventh frame (70-20) and +24 in the third inning (60-36) for the two most lopsided.
Wearing It: The Rattlers have been hit by a pitch 34 more times than their opponents, getting plunked 101 times in 53 games. That shatters the school record of 87 by the 2021 team. Junior Ashton Beaird and senior Jacob King have the most bruises, as Beaird has been hit 29 times, and King 23. Beaird currently ranks fourth in the nation, while King is 13th. The school individual record is 32 HBP in a season by David Nelson from 2001.
Collecting the W's: The 36 wins in the regular season are the most for the St. Mary's Baseball team since the 2015 team won 37 en route to a 41-16 overall record and a spot in the NCAA South Central Regional. The 36 victories also break the school's single-season record for conference wins in a year, surpassing the 35 that both the 2008 (35-14) and 2010 (35-13) teams won.
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 strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.15), and rank 19th nationally.
Rewriting the Books: The 2026 edition of the Rattlers appear several times in the single game record books this season.
Stat Rank Total Opponent Date
RBI T8 22 at Sul Ross Feb. 1
Home Runs T6 6 at Sul Ross Feb. 1
Walks 3 16 Okla. Christian Feb. 7
T4 14 at Sul Ross Jan. 31
Hit by Pitch 1 9 at Sul Ross Jan. 31
T2 7 at St. Edward's Mar. 21
T2 7 at St. Edward's Mar. 22
T7 6 at UTPB Apr. 18
Sac Flies T1 4 at ENMU Apr. 3
Sac Bunts T1 6 Cameron Apr. 10
Stolen Bases 3 8 West Texas A&M Mar. 29
DP Turned 1 6 Angelo State Apr. 1
The Mendoza Line: Senior closer Edward Mendoza has walked only six batters in 31.2 innings this season. The 1.71 walks per nine innings is the fourth-best total in school history. Frank Flores owns the school record with 1.40 per nine innings from 2008. Mendoza's eight saves also tied for sixth on the StMU single-season lists.
Getting the K's: Junior Matthew Janecek is averaging 11.74 strikeouts per nine innings, which is good for fourth on the St. Mary's single season lists. The record is 13.39 by J.P. Duran from 2002. Janecek's strikeout average is the best in StMU in over 20 years.
Tie Goes to the Runner: Senior Jacob King became the latest to tie the school record for stolen bases in a game, swiping three in the finale at UT Permian Basin. He is the 11th different Rattler to steal three bases, joining Ashton Beaird and Tristan Moreno on the active roster.
Helping Hand: Freshman Blake Allen collected eight assists against Cameron in the first game of the doubleheader, 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.
Cooking With Gas: Gabe Cook currently ranks 18th in all of Division II in WHIP at 1.06 and leads the Lone Star Conference. Cook is also 44th in Division II in hits allowed per nine innings at 7.18, which ranks second in the Lone Star, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is 3.13 for fifth-best in the league.
Career Numbers: Garrett Brooks is closing in on the top 10 in career RBI at St. Mary's. Brooks currently has 151 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 26. Fellow senior Jacob King ranks 5th with 36 career hit by pitch. Junior Dillon Lopez is now seventh in runners thrown out with 27, and his 20 this season is the fifth-most in a single season.
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.
Triple Play: St. Mary's is one of 17 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.
