February 15, 2008
San Antonio – Jonathon Cisneros had the big hit in both games, as St. Mary’s University rallied in the late innings twice, sweeping past the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, 2-1, 4-3, in Heartland Conference baseball action Friday afternoon at V.J. Keefe Memorial Stadium.
In the first game of the day the Rattlers were held in check by Falcon pitcher Flynn Stachowski, who allowed just two hits over the first five innings. A Will Basom ground out in the third inning had the Falcons up 1-0. But The Rattlers finally woke up in the sixth inning.
Bobby Freeman (Sr., Fair Oaks Ranch) led off with a single to right-center and Jonathon Rosfeld (Fr., San Antonio) reached on a fielder’s choice to put runners on first and second with no outs. After Danny Cantu (Jr., San Antonio) laid down a bunt to move the runners to second and third, Cisneros (So., San Antonio) brought both home with a single to center, putting the Rattlers up 2-1. From there Braxton Watson (Jr., Spring) finished things off. Waston allowed just one run on six hits and one walk, while striking out five to improve to 2-0 on the season.
In the second game the script was nearly identical, with the Rattlers falling behind by a single run before rallying late. Danny Frisby looked to be in charge on the mound heading into the seventh inning, but the Rattlers chased him before picking up the win. Daniel Soto (So., Lytle) led off with a walk and was moved to second by a Freeman sacrifice bunt. After Corey Roberson recorded the second out St. Mary’s head coach Charlie Migl rolled the dice and came up with a surprising ploy.
Soto took off, trying to steal third base with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. The ploy worked better than head coach Charlie Migl could have exprected as the throw from catcher Derek Dibbens sailed into left field, allowing Soto to score the tying run. After new pitcher Michael Villarreal (Jr., Eagle Pass) retired the side in the top of the eighth, the Rattlers wrapped up the come-from-behind win.
Michael Brzezinski (Jr., Helotes) walked to lead off, which brought up Cisneros again. He lined the pitch into the gap in right-centerfield and it went all the way to the wall, allowing Brzezinski to score the winner run. Villarreal improved to 1-1 with the win.
With the sweep the Rattlers are now 6-1 overall and 5-0 in Heartland Conference play this season. UTPB fell to 6-4, 2-4. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday, starting at noon at V.J. Keefe Memorial Stadium.
NOTE: The St. Mary’s softball team won two games on Friday to advance to the Silver Bracket of the Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II Leadoff Classic. The Rattlers defeated Central Washington, 5-4, in the final game of pool play, then defeated Grand Canyon, 15-13, in the nightcap. The Rattlers will continue on in silver bracket competition Saturday.