San Antonio – The University of Texas of the Permian Basin scored five runs in the top of the sixth inning to rally past St. Mary’s University for a 6-5 win and a sweep of the Heartland Conference baseball doubleheader between the teams, Sunday afternoon at V.J. Keefe Memorial Stadium.

The Rattlers had taken a 5-1 lead into the sixth inning on the strength of Courtney Behrend’s (Sr., Comfort, Texas) strong start, but the bullpen let the Rattlers down. Eduardo DeLaChica (Jr., Sugar Land, Texas) came in and hit one batter and walked three more to score two runs and load the bases with one out. Sammy Rivas (Jr., Falfurrias, Texas) allowed the tying and go-ahead runs to score on a walk and hit, giving UTPB the 6-5 lead. St. Mary’s put three runners on in the final two innings, but couldn’t score.

DeLaChica took the loss, allowing three runs on two walks in 1/3 inning of work. Casey Rana picked up the win in relief, improving to 1-0. Jonathon Cisneros (Sr., San Antonio) broke out of an early season slump for the Rattlers, going 3-for-3 with a double, RBI and run scored. Ryan Morrow (Jr., Bulverde, Texas) drove in three runs.

In the first game of the day, the Rattlers fell behind early and never were able to recover in a 7-4 loss to the Falcons. UTPB scored six runs over the first three innings off Matt Holland (Jr., Shreveport, La.) to take a 6-1 lead. St. Mary’s battled back in the middle innings and got back into the game. Esteban Raygoza (So., San Antonio) pulled the Rattlers to within 6-2 in the fourth inning with an infield single that scored Weston Baros (Jr., San Antonio). One inning later, the Rattlers pulled even closer. With one out, James Hipp (Sr., Uvalde, Texas) singled and reached on an error. Cisneros reached on a fielder’s choice for the second out and Baros was hit by a pitch to load the bases. That brought up Morrow, who drilled a two-run single to right, cutting the deficit to 6-4.

But that was as close as the Rattlers would get. UTPB added an insurance run in the top of the sixth inning for the final margin. Holland fell to 1-1 on the season, allowing 7 runs on 9 hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. Felix Cardenas picked up the win, allowing one earned run on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. Cardenas improved to 2-0 with the win.

With the losses, St. Mary’s is now 3-4 overall and 3-4 in Heartland Conference play this season. UTPB is now 5-2, 5-2. The Rattlers will return to action on Friday, Feb. 12, when they host St. Edward’s University in a Heartland Conference doubleheader, starting at 2 p.m.

UT-Permian Basin 7, St. Mary’s (Texas) 4 (Feb 07, 2010 at San Antonio, TX) (Game 1)

UT-Permian Basin 6, St. Mary’s (Texas) 5 (Feb 07, 2010 at San Antonio, TX) (Game 2)

Back to top