AUSTIN, Texas – St. Edward's baseball scored late Thursday but could not overcome a 5-0 deficit in its 7-3 loss to St. Mary's in the series finale.
 
ROMEO CORTINA hit his second home run in as many games. He finished the day 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI. CHASE FONTANA, GABLE WHITACRE, and DEREK THOMPSON also tallied hits for the Hilltoppers.
 
St. Edward's (22-17, 9-9 Heartland) suffers its first sweep in conference play since 2014. St. Mary's (17-19, 10-5 Heartland) moves into a tie for second place in the league standings.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• St. Mary's starting pitcher Hayden Hibler carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning to keep SEU at bay.
• The Rattlers scored a trio of runs in the fourth inning and two more in the sixth to take a 5-0 lead.
• Cortina broke up the no-hitter and the shutout with a two-out, solo home run, making it 5-1.
• A pair of runs in the top of the seventh frame increased the Hilltoppers deficit to 7-1.
• St. Edward's staged its rally with two runs in the eighth inning behind three straight hits from Thompson, Cortina, and Whitacre.
• Rattler closer Trent Rousseau came on and recorded his second save of the series to clinch the sweep.

 
HILLTOPPER NOTES

• St. Edward's trails St. Mary's 150-88-1 in the all-time series.
• Cortina has reached base safely in 21 straight games.
• Thursday was the 70th meeting between St. Edward's head coach Rob Penders and St. Mary's head coach Charlie Migl.

 
QUOTE BOARD: HEAD COACH ROB PENDERS
"It's a tough one to swallow. We played our rival and we are fighting for our tournament lives, and we just didn't have much fight or fire. Really, the bats are what went silent, for whatever reason. That happens sometimes, but for this team to have that type of three-game stretch is very odd. It's a little concerning, but there's nothing we can do about it now. We know what we have cut out for us in the future, and we're going to have to fix some things."
 
UP NEXT
St. Edward's faces UH-Victoria Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Victoria, Texas. Live stats will be available at GoHilltoppers.com.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Score: St. Mary's 7, St. Edward's 3
Records: St. Edward's (22-17, 9-9 Heartland), St. Mary's (17-19, 10-5 Heartland)
W – Hibler (3-2) L – Infante (4-3), S – Rousseau (7)
Attendance: 118
 
For the latest information on the St. Edward's University Baseball team, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @SEUBaseball, or visit us at www.GoHilltoppers.com.