February 23, 2008
San Antonio – St. Edward’s University used the strong pitching of John Henry and David Wagner to lead the way as the Hilltoppers completed a three-game sweep of 21st-ranked St. Mary’s University Saturday afternoon in Heartland Conference baseball action at V.J. Keefe Memorial Stadium.
Henry scattered seven hits and one walk over 6 1/3 innings of work to pick up his third win of the season against just one loss. Wagner came on in the seven inning and held the Rattlers without a run to pick up fourth save of the season and third against the Rattlers in the series.
After the Hilltoppers took a 1-0 in the second inning the Rattlers responded. Jonathon Cisneros (So., San Antonio) took the second pitch he saw and smacked it out of the park over the right field wall for his fourth homerun of the season, tying the game at 1-1. However, the Hilltoppers came right back with two runs in the top of the third, chasing starter Brandon Key (Jr., Katy). The Rattlers cut the lead back to one on a Danny Cantu (Jr., Laredo) single that scored Bobby Freeman (Sr., Fair Oaks Ranch), making it a 3-2 game.
That was where the score would stay for the next three innings as Henry and Rattler reliever Tyler Cales (Jr., San Antonio) held the offenses in check until the seventh inning. St. Edward’s struck first with an RBI single by Justin Belliveau to make it a two-run game at 4-2. The Rattlers responded with a Freeman RBI base hit in the bottom of the inning. The Hilltoppers kept the pressure on the Rattlers, increasing their lead to three again at 5-3 on a sacrifice fly by Bradley Goldsmith in the top of the eighth inning. A homerun by Drew Cross in the top of the ninth was the final blow for the Hilltoppers, making it a three-run game.
Key took the loss, allowing three runs on three hits and two walks, while striking out three. He fell to 1-1 on the season. Cales was strong in relief, allowing two runs on six hits in four innings of work.
Four Rattlers had multiple hits in the game, Jonathon Rosfeld (Fr., San Antonio), Cantu, Cisneros and Freeman. Cross led the Hilltoppers in hits with three. Adam Wolotira also had two hits for the Hilltoppers.
With the loss, the Rattlers fell to 9-4 overall and 7-3 in Heartland Conference play. St. Edward’s won its 11th straight game and is 11-3 overall, 10-0 in Heartland play. The Rattlers will hit the road for the first time this season when they travel south to Kingsville on Tuesday to face Texas A&M-Kingsville in a single game, starting at 3 p.m.