SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Rogers State baseball team split with St. Mary's on Sunday to take the three-game Heartland Conference series, 2-1, at Dickson Stadium. RSU rallied to win game one, 6-4, but dropped the second game, 12-6.
GAME ONE RSU used a late three-run rally to surge to a 6-4 win in game one. The Hillcats scored two runs in the first inning, but fell behind by one run at 3-2 and 4-3, respectively, before the rally.
Trailing 4-3 in the sixth inning,
Colton Crocker gave RSU the lead with a two-RBI infield single.
Zack Ashford and
Garrett Hall came home for the 5-4 advantage. A miscue by the Rattlers allowed one more run to score for the 6-4 score.
Cesar Rodriguez reached on an error with two outs and Crocker scored.
The Hillcats went up 2-0 in the first inning after a
Samuel Davison single to right plated two runs.
Ismael Orozco and Rodriguez came in to score on the Davison two-RBI hit.
After falling behind 3-2,
Chris Miguel doubled down the line to tie the score at 3-3 as
Caleb Kohlmeyer scored.
StMU regained the lead, 4-3, on an infield single that scored one run.
Ashford went 2-for-3 with one run scored. Hall finished 2-for-4 with one run scored.
Justin Magstadt got the win as he pitched one inning and allowed only one hit.
Rusty Huber picked up a save in two innings of work with only two hits allowed. Starter
Tyler Kruse went four innings and allowed four runs on six hits with four strikeouts.
GAME TWO The Rattlers scored 10 runs in the late innings to win game two, 12-6. RSU plated all six of its runs via home runs, two three-run homers.
StMU slowly gained a 4-0 edge with runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings. One run scored on a fielder's choice in the second, and the lead doubled to 2-0 in the fourth on a single to left field. Two RBI singles in the sixth inning made it 4-0.
Ashford kept RSU in the game with a three-run home run, his second of the season, in the seventh for a 4-3 score.
The Rattlers got five runs in the seventh inning to blow open the game with a 9-3 advantage. A balk brought in the first run of the inning, and a double to left field upped the lead to 6-3. A three-run home run upped the edge to 9-3. Three more runs in the eighth inning pushed the advantage to 12-3. A wild pitch scored one run and then a single up the middle brought in another run. A sac fly ended the scoring for StMU for the 12-3 score.
Orozco hit a three-run home run, his second of the season, in the ninth inning for the final 12-6 mark.
Jason Marley went 3-for-4 with one run scored. Kohlmeyer was 2-for-4 with one run scored.
The Hillcats (15-5, 2-1 HC) end their four-game road trip with one nine-inning game at Oklahoma Wesleyan on Tuesday (March 15) at 6 p.m. in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
