Rattlers perfect at home tournament

San Marcos took care of business Friday.

The Rattlers faced off with Seguin and Boerne in a doubleheader and secured two wins to move to 4-0 throughout their annual home tournament and 15-2 on the season.

In San Marcos’ first match up against Seguin, the Rattlers went back and forth with the Matadors before eventually pulling out a 8-5 victory in the bottom of the fifth due to tournament time constraints.

“We know going in to play Seguin that that’s gonna be a (hard-fought battle), it’s a rivalry game. It’s a fun game, but Seguin gives us their best every single time we play them. They threw a dude against us that we hadn’t seen or heard anything about, and he kind of hurt us early. But, we found a way there at the very end to keep the pressure on them and go in there and score a few runs late,” head coach Bryan Webb said. “The kid they threw did well. He’s got a great future. He was a freshman kid and he threw hard and competed well on the mound. We found a way to bunt the ball, run the bases and get some timely hits. So that’s kind of what we live off of.”

Sophomore Cole Wiatrek started on the mound for San Marcos in the third game of their home tournament and began the game keeping Seguin off the board in the first inning. Elijah Ramirez and senior Tony Diaz got into scoring position in the bottom of the first but weren’t able to be driven home.

The Matadors struck first in this one, driving in a run off a deep hit to the right-center gap in the outfield. Wiatrek was able to strand two runners on base to end the inning though, keeping Seguin’s damage at just one run.

San Marcos had a response of their own waiting at the plate in the bottom of the second. Marco Duenez and Colson Geesee started off the inning getting on base for the Rattlers, and then Jack Vasquez put down a bunt to move them into scoring position. San Marcos put down another bunt to tie things at 1-1, and then ripped a single up the middle to give themselves a 2-1 lead heading into the third.

Seguin wasn’t ready to stop their momentum on the plate just yet, loading the bases with no outs to start the inning. Sophomore Charlie Helgeson was called to the mound with the bases loaded, and got a clutch strikeout against his first batter. Very close called balls led to the Matadors’ second run across the plate due to a walk, and Seguin pushed across another pair of runs off an error in left field that put them up 4-2. A single followed to give Seguin a 5-2 advantage before the Rattlers forced a ground-out to end the Matadors’ at-bat.

The Rattlers responded by loading the bases with no outs in their next at-bat as well. Seniors Kutter Gage Webb, Reagan Chomel and Dylan Nunez all got on base to start the bottom of the inning. Duenez followed that up by putting a ball in play that turned into an error which kept the bases loaded while bringing in a run. Geesee was hit by a pitch in the next at-bat to bring in another run, and Vasquez followed that up with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 5-5. San Marcos’ final run of the inning came by way of a wild pitch, giving San Marcos a 6-5 advantage at the end of the inning.

Seguin did get a runner to third off a single and an error trying to throw out a steal, but otherwise were kept quiet as well as off the board in the top of the fourth. The at-bat for San Marcos went similarly, with Webb ripping a single to center field with two outs but nothing else.

Elijah Ramirez took the mound for San Marcos in the fifth, and only allowed one runner on base while keeping the Matadors scoreless for the second- straight inning. The Rattlers would finish off Seguin in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with one out and bringing in runs due to wild pitches to secure an 8-5 victory with the first pitch of the Rattlers’ next game due up in 30 minutes.

San Marcos’ second game of the day was against Boerne. The Greyhounds put together a late comeback attempt after the Rattlers built a four-run lead early in the game, but Zehavi Hernandez ended it with a clutch strikeout with two down and the bases loaded to secure a 7-6 win.

Sophomore Caleb Gomez got the start on the mound for the Purple and White in their second game of the day. The Greyhounds put up two runs in the first inning thanks to an error and a sacrifice fly, but Gomez forced two straight ground-outs to stop the bleeding. The Rattlers responded right back with two runs of their own at the plate, with Chomel hitting a sacrifice groundout and Nunez hitting an RBI double to tie things at 2-2 after one.

Boerne got on the board in the second as well, but this time was held to just one run. The Greyhounds hit a one-out triple and followed that up with an RBI single to right field to regain a 3-2 lead. Gomez finished the inning with two-straight outs to hold Boerne at one. Landon Munoz was able to get on base with a single for the Rattlers in the bottom of the third but wasn’t able to get anything else going, keeping things at 3-2 heading to the third.

Gomez gave up two singles to start the inning, but that would be all the Greyhounds would get. Gomez stranded two runners on base while getting three-straight outs in the process to force his first scoreless inning of the game.

San Marcos had a plan in mind to reward the sophomore, putting up a whopping five runs in the bottom of the third to take a 7-3 lead. Nunez ripped an RBI double to put the first run on the board and Geesee followed him up with another double to clear the bases and add two more runs. The scoring didn’t stop there though — Munoz followed that with an RBI single to left field to add another. The Rattlers were able to load the bases with two outs, and Diaz forced a walk to bring in the fifth run of the inning.

The fourth inning was much more quiet offensively. Gomez gave up two walks, but once again kept Boerne off the board with a clutch strikeout to end the inning and strand multiple runners on base. After putting up five in their last at-bat, the Rattlers cooled down a tad and went three up, three down.

Gomez found himself in another hairy situation on the mound in the top of the fifth but found a way out of it for the third-straight inning. The Greyhounds managed to load the bases with one out, but Gomez forced a grounder to short where Webb tagged second and gunned down the runner at first completing a double play and ending the inning. San Marcos was able to get two runners on base in the bottom of the fifth but weren’t able to push them across.

“He grew up tonight. He had to grow up because that team — they could embarrass you in a hurry, they hit really well. He had to make some pitches, and I just told him, 'You find that breaking ball you’re going to be a stud.' It’s not pitching JV or 14U ball,” Webb said. “There’s about four or five division-one hitters over there that can make you look silly, and I saw him get a little fired up, get emotional and that’s what we wanted to see from him going into district. It’s good, he doesn’t know how good he’s going to be yet. He’s a big ole kid that’s got a ton of talent and it was great to see him go compete at that level.”

San Marcos looks ahead to the heart of district play with a two-game series against Schertz Clemens with game one scheduled for Mar. 12 at 12 p.m. at Clemens high school.

“Well, we’ve played 21 in 17 days or 17 in 21 — I can’t remember there’s been so many. But we’ve had to travel. We’ve been at home, we went to Corpus, we played at Whataburger [Field]. So we’ve seen everything we’re going to see going into district play. We’ve seen some great pitching. We’ve seen some soft pitching. We’ve seen some great defense. We’ve seen some good hitting teams, so everything in our district that we need to see for the next 14 games, we’ve seen. We’re ready for it, and hopefully we just keep getting better and go find a way to punch a ticket.”

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