Box Score The Basics
-Score: #22 St. Edward's 14, #11 St. Mary's 6                                                                           
-Records: St. Edward's 37-15: St. Mary's 36-14
-Location: San Antonio, Texas (Sullivan Field)
 
How It Happened
-St. Edward's got hot right out of the box, scoring two runs in the first inning. The top of the lineup and its speed were key to the Hilltopper early start. TAYLOR JOHNSON led off with a four-pitch walk against St. Mary's starter Matt McClain, the Heartland Conference strikeout leader. He then proceeded to steal second base. After CUTTER RUNTE was hit by a pitch, the two runners would tally a double steal. During the play, a throwing error by the catcher allowed Johnson to score the game's first run. Then with two outs, NATE BOBROWSKI doubled to left field to score Runte.
-In the second inning, the Hilltoppers extended their lead with five more runs. St. Mary's made three costly errors to help the visitor's cause. Johnson, Runte, Bobrowski and CJ MANNING all picked up RBI in the inning.
-St. Mary's would chip away at the lead with single runs in the second and fourth innings, however the Hilltopper offense was relentless, scoring two in the fifth and blowing the game wide open with four runs in the sixth inning to make the score, 13-2. The big blow during the onslaught was a three-run home run by MARSHALL BURFORD.
-Both teams would match each other with a run in the seventh inning.
-St. Mary's would push across three runs in the bottom of the ninth for the final margin, 14-6.
 
Beyond the Box Score
-Hilltopper starting pitcher BRANNON EASTERLING continued his mastery of the Rattlers with his third win of the season against St. Mary's. He narrowly missed his 13^th complete game of the season, falling one out short as CAMERON STANTON came on in relief. Easterling leads the nation in complete games. Easterling improves to 11-3 on the season, which ties Carl O'Neal of St. Mary's for the conference lead.
-St. Edward's has now scored 29 runs in the first two games of the tournament and have pounded out 36 hits. They have also stolen four bases in each game.
 
Heartland Conference Tournament, San Antonio, Texas (Incarnate Word)
Thursday, May 9th
G1 - #2 St. Edward's def. #3 UA Fort Smith, 15-14
G2 - #1 St. Mary's def. #4 TAMU-International, 5-1
Friday, May 10^th
G3 – TAMU-International def. UA Fort Smith, 4-3
G4 – St. Edward's def. St. Mary's, 14-6
Saturday, May 11^th
G5 –  St. Mary's vs. TAMU-International, 12 PM
G6 – St. Edward's vs. Winner Game 5, 3:30 PM
G7 – If necessary
 
Up Next
St. Edward's will be back in action Saturday at 3:30 p.m. when they take on the winner of the St. Mary's and TAMU-International game in the championship game of the tournament. Winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA South Central Regional. Live video and stats are available for all games of the tournament on the Rattler Athletic Website.