Rattlers blast East Central in district opener

The Rattlers started off district play with a bang Tuesday night.

San Marcos bested East Central 11-2 in a game that saw the Rattlers put up nine runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings to put away the Hornets. Senior right-handed pitcher Reagan Chomel threw a complete game with eight strikeouts while only giving up one earned-run in seven innings.

“[East Central’s] got a kid over there on the mound that got us twice last year, and he scared me to death going into the ballgame. We knew we had to have good at bats, good approaches. We had to go in there and put the ball in play,” head coach Bryan Webb said. “And we squared a few up early and got the bunt game going and it kind of hurt them a little bit. We put a couple on the board, manufactured and that kind of opened some lanes up for us. Fortunately we scored some runs.”

San Marcos gave up two base runners in the top of the first due to walks, but worked their way out of the Hornets’ at-bat with a strikeout and an out during a pickle to keep East Central off the board. The Rattlers weren’t able to get anything on the board in the first either, with San Marcos going three up, three down at the plate.

Chomel decided he wanted to put down the Hornets just as they’d put down the Rattlers in the bottom of the first — three up, three down. The Rattlers’ starter for the night started the inning off with a strikeout, then forced a ground out and finished off the Hornets’ at-bat with another strikeout to keep East Central scoreless. Chomel also helped himself at the plate with a single to kick off the top of the second, but the Rattlers weren’t able to get anything else going in the inning to keep things knotted at 0-0.

San Marcos picked up where they left off on the mound, with Chomel forcing the Hornets to go three up, three down for the second inning in a row. The Rattlers got their bats going in the bottom of the third, as well as their first lead of the game. Sophomores Juan Munos and Landon Munoz kicked off the inning with two singles and advanced to second and third after a balk from the Hornets. Freshman Elijah Ramirez knocked a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in the first run of the game, and senior Kutter Gage Webb followed him up later in the inning with a sacrifice fly to center field to give San Marcos a 2-0 lead coming out of the third.

The Rattlers started off the fourth with Chomel forcing two-straight ground outs. East Central knocked their first hit of the game on a single afterwards. The Hornets then managed to get their first run of the game on the board after a bunt near home plate led to an overthrow at first base that allowed East Central’s runner at first to round the bases and stuck a runner on third. Chomel clutched up and stranded the runner by forcing a pop out to end the inning and keep San Marcos in front at 2-1. Senior Dylan Nunez kicked off the Rattlers’ atbat with a walk, but San Marcos went three up, three down afterwards.

Chomel once again started off the inning by keeping the Hornets’ first two batters off-base with two strikeouts, but East Central extended the inning with a single. The Rattlers had an error at first base off a ground out during the following atbat where San Marcos appeared to tag the runner out but the ball fell out. The Rattlers recovered and improvised though, throwing out a runner at home for the final out of the at-bat to hold their lead at 2-1.

“It was the same thing for me on the mound. Go out there, be a bulldog and attack the zone. Today school thankfully was a smooth day, so we came out here, had fun hitting BP, were vibing in the locker room and we just go to work,” Chomel said. “[Coach Webb] told me coming out of BP, ‘Don’t give me that ball back,’ and when I hear those words, that gives me the most motivation and let’s go to work.”

“I had two strikes on me [in my RBI at-bat] and just got the ball in contact like coach Webb says and good things will happen, so I did,” Diaz said. “Speed kills. I put a bunt down and I’m almost there every time. Speed really kills in any sport, football, baseball, anything.”

San Marcos really got to work at the plate after that.

The Rattlers knocked in five runs in the bottom of the fifth — with seniors Tony Diaz, Dylan Nunez and Marco Duennez all driving in runs off hits to the outfield. Webb also joined the hit party in this inning with a single that loaded the bases for Nunez. The Rattlers grabbed their final run of the inning on a steal of home to go up 7-1.

East Central started off the top of the sixth with two singles, but Chomel cleaned things up fairly swiftly. The senior responded with a strikeout of the following batter, and then thought he got out of the inning on a double-play from Webb at shortstop. After being called a double play initially, the out at first was overturned after protest from East Central, which put a run on the board for the Hornets as well and brought both teams back out of the dugout to reset. Chomel managed the change of calls as well as possible, striking out the batter after returning to the mound following the ruling to hold the lead at 7-2.

San Marcos wanted to make the most of what ended up being their final time at the plate against the Hornets — driving in another four runs to really put a stamp on the game. Webb smacked a two-run double into the left-center gap, Chomel followed up with a single to left field that drove in Webb and sophomore Colson Geesee ripped a single down the left field line to finish off the scoring in the inning and put the Rattlers up 11-2. Chomel got a strikeout and a ground out to start the inning, but East Central got runners to first and third over the next two at-bats after the Hornets hit a double and a single with two outs. San Marcos held things off from there, with Chomel forcing a ground out to end the game and secure the victory.

“We’re always working to get better and our pitching staff will be fresh going into this. We’ve got four ball games getting ready to lead into Clemens next week — Clemens is a much improved ball club as well — so we got things to work on,” Webb said. “We gotta get some rest, and we got to get some better approaches and some communication issues fixed. But overall I’m happy where we’re at. It’s our 11th win and most importantly, it’s our first district win and those are always the toughest to get.”

The Rattlers will return home to play in their annual home tournament against Harker Heights at 4:30 p.m.

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