AUSTIN – Jeff Rohrbach pitched a complete game and the St. Edward’s University offense pounded St. Mary’s University pitching as the Hilltoppers defeated the Rattlers 10-3 in the first round of the 2010 Heartland Conference Baseball Tournament, played Friday afternoon at Disch-Falk Field.

The Rattlers, ranked 27th in the nation, took the lead in the first inning. Josh McElroy (So., Helotes, Texas) doubled to lead off and came home on a single by James Hipp (Sr., Uvalde, Texas). However, the Rattlers lost the opportunity to extend the early lead when Greg Herbst (Jr., San Antonio) grounded into a double play. Only two Rattlers were able to reach base over the next five innings.

Alfonso Maldonado (Sr., Laredo, Texas) was nearly perfect for three innings, allowing just one baserunner, but that all changed in the fourth inning. The first four batters of the inning reached for the Hilltoppers, and Taylor Johnson wrapped up the three-run inning with an RBI double to make the score 3-1 SEU. Dylan Schuch hit a two-run single the following inning to give SEU a 5-3 lead.

St. Mary’s finally struck back in the sixth inning. Hipp reached on an infield single to lead off and Ryan Morrow (Jr., Bulverde, Texas) followed with a homerun down the leftfield line, cutting the deficit to just two runs at 5-3. The homerun was Morrow’s league-leading 14th of the season.

But the Hilltoppers responded with five runs in the top of the seventh inning, chasing Maldonado and putting the game out of reach. Maldonado fell to 8-5 with the loss, allowing six earned runs on nine hits and one walk, while striking out four. Jeff Rohrbach allowed three runs on eight hits and one walk, while striking out five to improve to 9-0 this season.

With the loss, St. Mary’s is now 39-16 this season. St. Edward’s improved to 35-20. With the loss, the Rattlers dropped into the loser’s bracket and will face the loser of the University of the Incarnate Word-University of Texas of the Permian Basin game played Friday night. To win the tournament, St. Mary’s will have to win its next four games.

All St. Mary’s games at the Heartland Conference Tournament will be broadcast live over the internet. You must have Quicktime player installed on your computer to listen to the broadcasts. Broadcast time is five minutes prior to the scheduled start of the game.

St. Edward’s 10, St. Mary’s (Texas) 3 (May 07, 2010 at Austin, Texas)
St. Edward’s 000 320 500 – 10 15 0 (35-20)
St. Mary’s (Texas) 100 002 000 – 3 8 3 (39-16)

Pitchers: St. Edward’s – Jeff Rohrbach and Adam Wolotira. St. Mary’s (Texas) – Alfonso Maldonado; Michael Villarreal(7); Grant Harrelson(7) and Ryan Morrow.

Win-Jeff Rohrbach (9-0)

Loss-Alfonso Maldonado (8-5)  T-2:28  A-258

HR StMU – Ryan Morrow (14).

Back to top