Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 SAN ANTONIO (March 17, 2017) – Scoring chances were few and far between on Friday for both Oklahoma Christian and St. Mary's (Texas) and the Eagles didn't take advantage of enough of theirs.
St. Mary's squeezed out a pair of wins over OC as a result, winning 3-1 and 4-3 at Dickson Stadium in a doubleheader between teams each picked in the top four in the Heartland Conference's preseason baseball poll.
OC (13-13, 1-4 Heartland) will try to salvage at least one win in its series at St. Mary's (11-11, 5-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday.
In the first game, St. Mary's starter Holden Grounds (3-2) pitched a complete game, striking out six batters, and didn't allow any Eagle to advance past first base until the seventh inning.
St. Mary's scored once against OC starter
Dalton Rentz (4-2) in the second, when Jacob Arevalo's double down the right-field line scored Beau Barnes, who had led off the inning with a single. The Rattlers made it 3-0 in the fifth, taking advantage of an error in the process.
Lane Paul drew a walk to start the top of the seventh for OC. With one out,
Cory Duran doubled to left field, sending pinch-runner
Jared Price to third base, and Price later scored on a two-out wild pitch.
The Rattlers picked up another strong pitching performance in the second game, with Chris Jones (2-1) lasting eight innings. OC left the bases loaded in the first inning without scoring and St. Mary's took a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the inning thanks to two OC errors.
The Eagles broke their scoring drought in the fifth, using three hits combined with two St. Mary's errors. Paul's single to left field scored
Hayden Strobel to put OC up 2-1. The Eagles made it 3-1 in the fifth, as
Chad Kennedy singled and scored on an error by left fielder Donnie Perez.
Jake Baxter, whose single Perez misplayed, tried to score on the play, too, but was thrown out at home.
But the Rattlers rallied with a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh, the latter two off reliever
Gabe Rodery (2-1). James Gillean's RBI single tied the game and Jacob Aguilar's single drove home Gillean with the go-head run for St. Mary's.
Zac Bycko singled to right field to start the ninth against St. Mary's closer Trent Rousseau, but Rousseau retired the next three batters to finish the game and record his fourth save.
