Box Score The Basics
-Score: #22 St. Edward's 15, #12 St. Mary's 2 (G1); #12 St. Mary's 6, #22 St. Edward's 4 (G2)
-Records: St. Edward's 29-13, 19-10 HC: St. Mary's 29-12, 24-7 HC
-Location: San Antonio, Texas (San Antonio ISD Stadium)
 
Game 1
How It Happened
-Hilltopper starting pitcher BRANNON EASTERLING has done something no other opposing pitcher has done to St. Mary's starting pitcher Carl O'Neal in the past two-plus seasons and that is outduel the senior righthander. Matter of fact, Easterling now has two-straight wins over O'Neal. Last season's National Pitcher of the Year.
-St. Edward's jumped on O'Neal early with two runs in the first inning. CUTTER RUNTE drew a one-out walk and RANSOM LALONDE was hit by a pitch. CJ MANNING stepped up and drove in Runte with an RBI-single. NATE BOBROWSKI would bring in LaLonde on a squeeze bunt for a 2-0 Hilltopper lead.
-The Hilltoppers added a run in the second inning when RYAN DOLEZAL reached on a two-out walk back-to-back singles by TAYLOR JOHNSON and Runte drove in Dolezal for a 3-0 lead.
-In the fifth inning, St. Edward's blew the game wide open in a big way. The Hilltoppers would send 15 men to the plate, pound out seven hits and push across 11 runs. Both Johnson and Manning each had two hits during the inning. This would knock out O'Neal from the game with 10 earned runs.
-St. Edward's would coast from there.
 
Game 2
How It Happened
-In game two, St. Edward's scored first again, but it St. Mary's who would start strong, scoring six runs over the first two innings. That outburst would knock Hilltopper starting pitcher COLLIN SHERROD out of the game.
-Senior pitcher PAUL SMITH would keep the Hilltoppers in the game with 5.2 innings of scoreless baseball, with VITO LORENZINI also providing 1.0 innings of scoreless work. St. Edward's would try and chip away at the lead. AJ HERMANSON tripled in a run during the fourth inning, Johnson drove in a run in the sixth inning, and in the ninth inning the Hilltoppers would rally with one run, but come up just short, 6-4.
 
Beyond the Box Score
-Easterling had held the Rattlers scoreless for 13.2 consecutive innings before giving up two runs in the bottom of the seventh on Saturday. Easterling 2-0 with a 1.28 ERA against the nationally ranked Rattlers, making his case for HC Pitcher of the Year.
-The 10 earned runs allowed by O'Neal were more than he had all season coming into the game (8). It raised his ERA from 1.05 to 2.23.
 
 
2013 Heartland Conference Baseball Standings
Team                           Conference             Overall
#12 St. Mary's                   24-7                    29-12
#22 St. Edward's             19-10                   29-13
UA Fort Smith                   19-11                   23-17
TAMU-International        18-12                   25-19
Newman                           16-16                   20-19
UT-Permian Basin             9-21                    14-27
Panhandle State                1-26                      2-35
Oklahoma Christian           0-0                      22-18
McMurry                             0-0                      19-24
 
Up Next
The Hilltoppers and Rattlers will play the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the SAISD Schools Stadium in San Antonio. Live video and stats will be available on the Rattler Athletic Website.