February 22, 2006
By Chad Peters
San Antonio — The St. Mary’s University Rattlers baseball team hadn’t played a home game in two weeks, but they showed Tuesday that their flare for the dramatic did not diminish during their two-week road trip.
The Rattlers overcame deficits of three and four runs to sweep the Tarleton State Texans at V.J. Keefe Memorial Stadium, winning 4-3 and 8-7 to surpass the .500 mark for the first time this season.
In Game 1, senior first baseman John Alvarez blasted a deep shot into the left field wall, driving in two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
After surrendering three runs in the opening inning, senior pitcher David Ramirez (4-0) settled down and put the clamps on the Texans, pitching six straight innings of shutout baseball to ensure St. Mary’s victory.
In Game 2, the Rattlers (5-4) fell behind 5-1 after a five-run outburst by Tarleton in the top of the fourth, but the Rattlers’ bats responded in the bottom of the inning, driving in six runs of their own to regain the lead.
Two innings later, junior short stop Ryan Femath blasted a solo shot over the left field wall, giving the Rattlers an 8-5 lead. And as it turned out, Femath’s homerun proved to be the difference, as Tarleton drove in two runs in the top of the seventh.
Rattlers junior catcher Cody Pyle, the team’s leading hitter among those with at least 10 at bats, improved his season’s mark to .400 following a 5-for-6 batting performance on the day.
With the victories, head coach Charlie Migl moves even closer to the 700-win mark with 695 career victories.
St. mary’s hits the diamond again on March 2 in a doubleheader against Montana State-Billings at V.J. Keefe Memorial Stadium. The opening pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.