February 5, 2011
San Antonio, Texas – The Rattlers might have found a new arm for their already loaded pitching staff. And they didn’t have to go looking very far.
Greg Herbst, who starred manning the corners for St. Mary’s last season, made his Rattler debut on the mound Saturday, helping St. Mary’s pick up a pair of Heartland Conference victories over Newman University.
The flame-throwing senior from San Antonio struck out seven and scattered three hits over 4 2/3 innings in a 10-3 victory, hours after Matt Holland (Sr., Shreveport, La.) led the way on the mound in a 6-1 victory at V.J. Keefe Memorial Stadium.
Both pitchers improved to 1-0 on the season, with Holland striking out five and allowing three hits over six innings.
Oh, and the Rattlers’ bats just so happened to sparkle throughout.
Centerfielder Jason Garcia (Sr., Falfurrias, Texas) and second baseman Weston Baros both went long in Game 1, with Garcia bringing in two runs and Baros blasting a solo shot.
The Rattlers (2-0, 2-0) weren’t done, blasting two more home runs in the back end of the doubleheader off the bats of Herbst and catcher Ryan Morrow (Sr., Bulverde, Texas). Morrow’s shot brought in three runs.
Leading 5-3, St. Mary’s put away the second game with a five-run eighth inning.
The two teams will wrap up their three-game series at 12 p.m. Sunday at V.J. Keefe Stadium.
The series was originally supposed to be played Friday and Saturday, but was pushed back due to the winter storm that swept the area Friday.