February 18, 2011
San Antonio – Something happened to the Rattlers when they ventured across town earlier this week, something undeniable.
They started to jell.
Building on the stepping-stone victory they produced at Incarnate Word earlier in the week, the St. Mary’s baseball team swept Texas-Permian Basin in a doubleheader Friday at V.J. Keefe Memorial Stadium.
The Rattlers won Game 1 2-1 behind ace Matt Holland’s third victory in as many, and took a 4-2 victory in the nightcap on the strength of infielder-turned-pitcher Greg Herbst’s most complete showing of the season.
“Things are rolling,” said senior outfielder Jason Garcia (Falfurrias, Texas). “We’ve got our pitching going, we’re getting big hits.
“With seven out of nine starters back, we should be doing stuff like this.”
The Rattlers’ ability to turn the switch comes on the heels of what Garcia called an “eye-opening” pair of losses to Arkansas-Fort Smith last weekend.
The widely respected, veteran-laden Rattlers team was 4-3 after the defeats, creating a sense of urgency to match the high expectations placed on the season.
Whatever the reason, they are indeed suddenly rolling.
RE-WATCH THE RATTLERS’ GAME 1 VICTORY
St. Mary’s is 7-3 overall, with a 5-0 mark in Heartland Conference play. The Rattlers will try to make that 6-0 when they host UTPB in the series finale at 1 p.m. today at V.J. Keefe Memorial Stadium.
In Game 1, Holland (Sr., Shreveport, La.) went seven full innings, striking out five with no earned runs, one walk and six hits allowed.
His batters came to his aide out of the gate, as Josh McElroy (Jr., Helotes, Texas) tripled to lead off the bottom of the first inning, and Herbst (Sr., San Antonio) drove him in on a single moments later.
The Falcons knotted up the score at 1-1 in the second, but Jeremy Narvaez (Jr., Corpus Christi, Texas) drove in what proved to be the winning run on a fly out to left field that brought in Tyler Migl (Jr., San Antonio).
In Game 2, Herbst fanned a career-high 10 batters in 7 1/3 innings, allowing just three hits and giving up no earned runs in what was a gem of a performance. Tyler Migl and Derek Moczygemba (Sr., Bulverde, Texas) led the Rattlers at the plate with two hits apiece, while Garcia drove in a pair of runs.