Rattlers’ season ends against Brandeis

The Rattlers’ season came to a close Friday night.

San Marcos trailed San Antonio Brandeis 1-0 heading into game two after a 7-5 win by the Broncos in game one. The Rattlers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in their first at-bat that they held until the fifth inning, but Brandeis scored six runs in their final three at-bats to close out the game 6-2.

“They left a legacy. They played with that class last year that had all the seniors [when] they were juniors, and it was kind of tough for them breaking in the lineup a little bit because that bunch had been there for three years. And it was their time this year to step up, and a lot of the sports writers and magazines didn’t give them a chance to win 10 games. A couple of them didn’t even pick them to [make] the playoffs. They left here with 25 wins this year and 91 wins in their career as a class. We weren’t the most overly talented team on the field ever when we played, but they played the game the right way,” head coach Bryan Webb said. “This was my last class that I really saw growing up — in the summer leagues and everything — with Reagan, Vlario, Kutter Gage, Dylan and Marco. It’s a very emotional group for me. They had to take a role where they had to lead the younger guys. We had a lot of freshmen and sophomores that had to play, and the leadership that they took and the ownership they took into it [was important]. It’d be easy just to lay down when you’ve got a bunch of young guys and say, ‘we’re not going to win,’ but they fought through it. I’m super proud of our team.”

Senior pitcher Reagan Chomel got the start on the mound for San Marcos and began the game with a momentous strikeout to keep the Broncos off the board while stranding two runners on base. The Rattlers were quick to reward Chomel, with junior catcher Colson Geesee driving in a run on a sacrifice fly to center field. Chomel was ready to get to work at the plate as well, driving in another run on an RBI single to left field to give San Marcos a 2-0 lead after the first.

Chomel got in rhythm in the second, putting the Broncos down in order while adding another strikeout to the stat sheet. Freshman second baseman Tres Munos drew a walk and senior center fielder Tony Diaz beat out a throw for a single, but the Rattlers weren’t able to drive them in.

Chomel started off the third with his third strikeout of the game, but hit the next batter in the lineup. The senior responded by forcing a pop out to put two on the board, but an error on a pickoff attempt brought the runner at first all the way to third. Another walk was given up, but Chomel worked his way out of the inning by forcing a pop up to strand two runners on base for the second time in three innings. Brandeis put San Marcos down in order in the bottom of the inning.

The Rattlers’ defense once again stood tall in the fourth, with Chomel putting the Broncos down in order for the second time in four innings while pushing his strikeout total to four on the night. San Marcos’ offense started their at-bat with some juice, with senior Marco Duenez smacking a single to center field after an error put a runner on first to start the bottom of the inning. San Marcos tried for a suicide squeeze attempt that turned into a double out at home after the bunt popped up and was caught close to home plate. The Rattlers struck out to end the inning.

Munos made an incredible diving play at second to start the fifth with an out, but the tide turned for San Marcos after that. The Broncos knocked a single and then stole second in the following at-bat. Two walks in a row followed to load the bases, and Brandeis capitalized with a two-run double to tie the game. Senior Vlario Prado took the mound in the fifth and forced a grounder, but an error trying to throw out a runner at home brought in another run to give the Broncos a 3-2 lead. The Rattlers held their deficit at one though, forcing a pickle on a steal attempt and tagging out a runner to end Brandeis at-bat. Diaz forced a walk to kick off the bottom of the fifth, and a sacrifice bunt moved him to second with one down. The Broncos hit a Rattler at the plate in the next atbat, but forced a shallow pop up to right field and threw out a runner at home to record a double out and end the inning with their lead intact.

“It wasn’t in the chips. There were too many things that went wrong for us. We didn’t execute when we needed to in certain spots and it’s kind of a sour pill, but that stuff we’ll go back and work on in the offseason. That’s irrelevant on the night, but that team over there — we felt we were just as good as they were. We had a couple of chances there to kind of put a couple of daggers in them, and we didn’t do it,” Webb said. “And all of a sudden they got kind of hot and scored some runs, and we just kind of ran out of juice there in the last inning. Good luck to them the rest of the way, but I’m focused on my kids and how proud I am of these guys. They played San Marcos Rattler baseball the way they’re supposed to, and they represented it with class and professionalism. And I’m proud to be their coach.”

Two errors and a walk loaded the bases for San Marcos in the top of the sixth, but a pair of strikeouts from Prado and a pop up to center kept Brandeis from extending their lead. San Marcos started off the bottom of the sixth with a walk, but after a pop out to the outfield the Rattlers popped out next to first after sending a runner on a steal that led to him not tagging up at first and a double out for the Broncos.

Brandeis started off the seventh with a walk, and then an error trying to field a bunt put runners on first and third with no outs for the Broncos. A single followed to load the bases, and then Brandeis knocked an RBI single to extend their lead to two. The Rattlers hitting a batter in the next at-bat brought in another run, and then a wild pitch extended the Broncos’ lead to four. San Marcos forced a strikeout and a grounder to end the inning, holding their deficit at 6-2. The Rattlers got their first two batters on base to start a rally, but a pop up and a strikeout followed. The Rattlers drew a walk to load the bases, but a groundout to first ended the game.

“I’m going to remember my son obviously. He’s the last one to come through. I’ve had 12 years of Webbs on the lineup card. I told him, ‘You and your brothers have helped establish a top quality program in central Texas.’ We’ve had a lot of great guys come through here, but I was fortunate to coach my sons for 12 years. I was fortunate to coach Reagan Chomel, who’s probably going to be the all-time winningest pitcher – if I ever go back and look at the stats and go through it again. He’s had a great four years. Dylan [Nunez] had a great four years. We had a lot of all district kids this year — I think every starter we had was somewhere. [I’ll remember] their leadership, they were fun. They were classy, they were organized and we made some boneheaded mistakes in the locker room and on the field, but they were a fun bunch that you wanted to show up and coach every day. You wanted to give their best to them,” Webb said. “You hate to see them go, but like I told them ‘Close the book, close the chapter and go start another chapter, and be great at what you do.’ I hate to see them leave. I hate that Monday when we show up, we’re not going out to practice, but I’m super proud of them. It was fun to see some of them grow. Vlario grew like he grew and became the pitcher he became, and Dylan seeing the third baseman he became. That’s the fun part of coaching is seeing the development and the maturation process. I got to see them all grow up since they were five years old. So that’s the fun part. In five years from now we’ll see where they are. They’ll graduate college, and they’ll make more money than me, so they can come back and donate to the program. Super proud of these guys, and I’m super proud to be the coach of this program and coach these guys.”

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