St. Mary's scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings to steal a 5-4 victory in the first game of the double header before The University of Texas of the Permian Basin bounced back to win the second 3-2.
UTPB is now 10-10 in Heartland Conference play as the Falcons come down the stretch of the 2011 baseball season.
In the first game, the Falcons out-hit St. Mary's 7-4 with
Austin Wooldridge and
Ryan Giacomini picking up two hits each. Wooldridge picked up the biggest hit of the game in his first at-bat as he homered over the left field fence driving in
Travis Wilcox which was part of a four-run inning.
The Rattlers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in their first at-bat when Weston Baros tripled in Tyler Migl who walked. The lead would not last long as
Garrett Wolff hit a one-out double down the left field line before
Jeremy Miller walked. Wilcox cleared the bases with a two-run double before Wooldridge hit his first homer of the year to give the Falcons a 4-2 edge. Unfortunately for UTPB, it would not score again the rest of the game.
The score would stay that way until St. Mary's struck in the fourth, hitting a sacrifice fly to left, driving in Migl, who reached on an infield single. With the Falcons clinging to a 4-3 lead, Ryan Morrow doubled down the left field line to tie the game at four when he drove in Reagan Moczygemba. The Rattlers would eventually score the game-winner with a two-out RBI single by Moczygemba in their last at-bat.
Felix Cardenas pitched six innings, giving up three earned runs off just three hits while striking out two in the no decision. Matt Holland improved to 9-1 for St. Mary's as he gave up six hits and four runs while striking out one.
In the second game, St. Mary's struck first once again, this time in the third inning when Moczygemba came through with another RBI single giving the Rattlers a 1-0 lead. The Falcons finally got on the board in the fifth when
Chandler Goode and Wolff hit RBI singles, giving UTPB a 2-1 lead.
The Falcons made it 3-1 in the sixth when Wilcox drove in
Andy Quiring on his single. St. Mary's put the pressure on UTPB when Jason Garcia hit an RBI double for the Rattlers second run of the game.
Ryan Escarcega shut the door on the Rattlers as he pitched the final 1.1 innings in relief for starter
Connor Lewis. Escarcega sat down all four batters he faced, including two by strikeout. Lewis tossed 7.2 innings where he gave up two runs off nine hits while striking out three in the win.
UTPB moved to 15-19 on the year, while St. Mary's fell to 29-8 on the season and 18-3 in league play. The teams will play the final game of the series tomorrow at noon at Roden Field.
