March 11, 2007
AUSTIN – 18th-ranked St. Edward’s University used a pair of late-inning rallies to sweep a doubleheader from 28th-ranked St. Mary’s University in Heartland Conference baseball action Saturday afternoon at Lucien-Hamilton Field.
In the first game the Rattlers took a commanding lead after the sixth inning. Ricky Gonzalez (Jr., Houston) reached on an error to lead off and was followed by Danny Cantu (So., Laredo) and Michael Pawelek (Sr., San Antonio) who both singled to load the bases. Jason Davila (Sr., Boerne) hit a ball back to pitcher Niel Smith, whose error allowed Gonzalez to score. Jason Anderson (Sr., Lancaster, Calif.) walked to bring home Cantu and give the Rattlers a 5-4 lead. Michael Brzezinski (So., Helotes) hit into a fielder’s choice, allowing Pawelek to score. The following inning the Rattlers added an insurance run when Pawelek doubled and Davila singled to bring him home, giving them a 7-4 lead entering the bottom of the seventh.
But the Hilltoppers came back with four runs in the bottom of the inning to steal the win from the Rattlers. With one out three straight batters reached to load the bases. Eduardo de Lachica (Fr., Sugarland) picked up the second out of the inning on a ground out, allowing Brian Thomas to score. But de Lachica walked the next two batters to bring SEU to within one at 7-6. That prompted a call to the bullpen, but Frank Flores (Jr., San Antonio) gave up the game-winning two-run single to left.
The story was the same in game two as the Rattlers took a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. That was when the Hilltoppers put six runs on the board to take an 8-4 win.
Pawelek had four hits in the doubleheader to lead the offense for the Rattlers, while Ray Camacho (Sr., Converse) had three hits, including a homerun and Cantu added four hits.
With the losses St. Mary’s fell to 15-7 overall and 12-4 in Heartland Conference play this season. SEU improved to 20-3 and 15-1. The Rattlers will return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Stephenville to face Tarleton State University in a non-conference doubleheader, starting at 4 p.m.