The University of Texas Permian Basin staged a dramatic, four-run comeback in the bottom of the ninth inning on Thursday afternoon to upend St. Mary's, 9-8, in the opener of a four-game Lone Star Conference Easter weekend series at Roden Field. Down 8-5 to start the final frame, the Falcons sent nine batters to the plate, winning the game when Michael Clapperton walked on a bases-loaded, three-ball, one-strike pitch.
 
Oswaldo Godina singled to start the comeback. He reached second on a ground ball out. After Gabriel Morin walked on a 3-2 count, Pedro Astacio doubled, scoring Godina and advancing Morin to third. Then, Mario Pena tied the score with a two-RBI single, scoring Astacio and Morin. The bases then loaded when Marcus Johnson was hit by a pitch and Gabriel Melendez walked. Clapperton's walk plated Pena with the winning run.
 
UT Permian Basin outhit St. Mary's, 10-7. Godina and Astacio each went three-for-five at the plate and Clapperton, who walked to force in the winning run, had three RBIs.
 
Braydon Williamson pitched the final two innings and picked up the win. Four Falcon pitchers stranded 12 Rattler base runners.
 
The teams return for a pair of seven-inning doubleheaders on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
Falcon starter Trey Penny pitched his way out of a two-on, none-out situation in the Rattlers' half of the first inning. UT Permian Basis also threatened in the bottom of the first inning when Clapperton walked and advanced to second on Godina's single to left center.
 
After St. Mary's scored three unearned runs in the second, the Falcons' Astacio led off the bottom of the inning with a first-pitch home run over the left field fence.
 
The Rattlers took a 4-1 lead in the top of the third inning, the Falcons' Godina reached on a two-out, double to right and advanced to third on a wild pitch.
 
UT Permian Basin's Andre Leyva, who took over mound duties in the third, left a Rattler in scoring position when he retired the last two batters to pitch a scoreless fourth inning. Leyva hung another zero on St. Mary's fifth-inning half of the scoreboard, striking out the last batter swinging – stranding two Rattlers on base.
 
Devin Ferrari's two-out single in the bottom of the fifth plated Clapperton with the Falcons' second run, cutting the St. Mary's lead to 4-2. Clapperton had reached on a walk and advanced into scoring position when Garret Thornton was hit by a pitch.
 
Christian Cornelius assumed the Falcons' mound duties in the sixth, striking out two and benefiting from catcher Morin's strike to Clapperton to catch a St. Mary's runner stealing.
 
Astacio began the Falcons' big sixth inning by singling to left field on an 0-2 pitch. Pena then laid down a bunt, but a pitcher's throwing error allowed him to reach second base. Astacio took third on the play, and then scored on a subsequent balk, the Falcon's third run. Clapperton then slapped a 2-0 pitch into center field, scoring Johnson, who had walked and advanced on the balk, and Pena, who had taken second on the balk. The Falcons led 5-4.
 
After St. Mary's took scored two runs in the top of the seventh, taking a 6-5 lead, Morin's patience at the plate earned him a nine-pitch walk. Pena subsequently doubled down the right field line, moving Morin to third. However, a two-out strikeout ended the Falcons' threat.
 
Brayden Williamson replaced Cornelius on the mound for UT Permian Basin in the eighth and worked himself out of a two-out, runners-on-second-and-third situation.
 
St. Mary's took an 8-5 lead in the top of the ninth, which set the stage for the Falcons' dramatic comeback.
 
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