Rattlers bounce back with shutout win over Judson

The Rattlers bounced back Tuesday night.

After a 9-3 loss to Cibolo Steele last Friday, San Marcos got back in rhythm and secured a 7-0 win over Converse Judson. The Rattlers knocked a run in during the first inning to gain an early lead, and took control of the game with a four-run inning in the bottom of the fourth and never looked back.

“The word of the day yesterday [at practice] was resiliency, and we were resilient. We had confidence with [Reagan] Chomel on the mound — we always do. I could see [Judson] gathering confidence, and they were playing well. I could just see bad things fixing to happen if we didn’t wake up. Kudos to them; they did a great job getting their team ready, and they threw a kid that we hadn’t seen,” head coach Bryan Webb said. “He kind of kept us off balance there for a little bit, and we found it probably there in the fifth inning with the hit and run stuff. They played a pretty good ball game. I mean, that’s a much improved Judson team that we had to come out and play, and we got a good performance by Reagan on the mound, and it’s good to bounce back and get that win.”

Senior Reagan Chomel started on the mound for the Rattlers and stranded two runners in the first inning on second and third with a strikeout after sophomore Landon Munoz made a clutch throw from right field to throw out a runner at home. Senior Dylan Nunez put down a sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the first to give the Purple and White their first lead of the game.

Chomel did allow a walk in the second, but finished off the inning with two-straight strikeouts to strand a runner and keep Judson off the board. The senior ended the third with a strikeout as well to strand another Rocket base runner. San Marcos wasn’t able to get any offense going in the second and third.

“Our coaches sat us down after practice yesterday and told us we got popped in the mouth [and asked] how are we going to respond? I think the score takes care of itself and we came back out and responded good,” Chomel said. “First two innings were rocky, not gonna lie. I think my pitch count went way too far up in the first two or three innings, but once I got my groove — there was no stopping it.”

Chomel got his groove in the same inning the Rattlers exploded at the plate. The senior put the Rockets down in order, and San Marcos capitalized with a four-run fourth inning to extend their lead to 5-0. Freshman Jack Vasquez hit an RBI triple to kick off the scoring in the inning, and the Rattlers followed it up with two more RBI doubles — one from senior Tony Diaz — to secure the momentum.

Chomel continued his groove by putting the Rockets down in order again in the fifth, and finished off his shutout performance by stranding two Judson runners in scoring position in the sixth while recording his tenth strikeout. The Rattlers applied some insurance runs with a double steal that allowed a runner to get home as well as a well-executed bunt steal that brought in another to build San Marcos’ lead to 7-0. Junior Zehavi Hernandez came in to close out the game in the seventh and earned the save while also completing the shutout on the mound for the Rattlers.

“Thursday we go over there to Judson and that place has not been friendly to us over the years, (but) we’re going to be ready to play. We’re fully loaded with our pitching staff and we’ve been playing some of our younger kids on the JV right in front of it,” Webb said. “So we’re getting fine-tuned to make this run down the stretch right here. So, I feel confident going over there (that) we can get it done and head into next week against New Braunfels being right where we need to be.”

The Rattlers will return to the ball field on Mar. 28 at Judson High School at 7 p.m.

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