Box Score The Basics
-Score: St. Edward's 3, St. Mary's 0 (Game 1); St. Mary's 5, St. Edward's 4 (Game 2)
-Records: St. Edward's 10-6, 7-4 HC: St. Mary's 13-4, 11-3 HC
-Location: Austin, Texas (Lucian-Hamilton Field)
 
-Game 1-
How It Happened
-It was a matchup of two of the best pitchers in the region, if not nation. Carl O'Neal (STMU) and BRANNON EASTERLING (SEU) kept both lineups in check through six and a half innings.
-In the bottom of the seventh inning, NATE BOBROWSKI led off with a walk. AJ HERMANSON would sacrifice him to second. After an intentional walk to TAYLOR JOHNSON and a foul out by pinch hitter CUTTER RUNTE, RANSOM LALONDE stepped to the plate with two outs.
-LaLonde smacked the O'Neal 3-2 pitch to right field to bring in Bobrowski with the winning run.
-O'Neal was impressive allowing just the one run on five hits, while walking three and striking out six.
-Easterling was even more impressive, allowing just three hits, while striking out six.
 
Beyond the Box Score
-For Easterling, he has won his last three starts to improve to 3-1. During his last four starts, Easterling has a 0.59 ERA and has 17 strikeouts compared to two walks.
-O'Neal came into today's matchup with 21-straight wins. (Just three behind the NCAA record set by Carter Capps of Mount Olive who won 24 straight). Today's loss was his first in over two-plus seasons.
 
-Game 2-
How It Happened
-St. Mary's jumped out to the early 2-0 lead with single runs in the second and third innings.
-The Hilltoppers would come roaring back in the third inning, posting three runs on the board. Runte led off with a walk and Hermanson followed with a single. A groundout by Johnson moved the runners up a base.
-Bobrowski drove in the Runte with a single that went off of the glove the diving Rattler firstbaseman. LaLonde drove in Hermanson for the second run. CJ MANNING drove in the third run on a perfectly placed squeeze bunt up the first base line.
-St. Edward's tacked on another run in the fourth when DYLAN WATTS reached on a one-out single. Hermanson came through with a double to the right field gap to score Watts and make the score, 4-2.
-The Rattlers would get a run back in the seventh and tied the game up in the eighth.
-St. Edward's would have a chance to win the game in the ninth but a line out that the Rattler third baseman barely caught stranded two runners on base.
-St. Mary's pushed across a run in the top of the 10^th on a bases-loaded hit by pitch.
-The Hilltoppers put to runners on in the bottom of the inning, but a diving play by the Rattler third baseman saved the game for St. Mary's.
 
Beyond the Box Score
-Both teams had trouble driving runners in, as St. Mary's left 13 runners stranded, and the Hilltoppers left 14 on base.
-St. Edward's will be looking for its second series win against the Rattlers in the last three series played between the two teams.
 
2013 Heartland Conference Baseball Standings
Team                           Conference             Overall
#3 St. Mary's                      10-3                      12-4
TAMU-International          9-3                       12-3
#22 St. Edward's                7-3                       10-5
UA Fort Smith                     5-4                        6-5
Newman                              5-7                        5-8
UT-Permian Basin              1-8                       3-10
Panhandle State                 0-9                       0-12
McMurry                             0-0                        6-8
Oklahoma Christian           0-0                        4-5
 
Up Next
The Hilltoppers and Rattlers will battle in the final game of the three-game series on Saturday. First-pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Lucian-Hamilton Field. Live video and stats will be available on the Hilltopper Athletic Website.