San Marcos split a doubleheader against Angleton on Friday.
The Rattlers won game one, 8-6. But the Wildcats took the second matchup 17-4 in a five-run run-rule contest.
“We play great ball and then we don’t play great ball,” head coach Bryan Webb said. “Thank God district games are only one game. We play well early and then we just kind of drift off and go to sleep. There’s all kinds of different solutions or scenarios. Maybe we’re not getting aligned right. We’ve just got to find a continuity with the coaching staff and our alignments. We’ve got a bunch of guys that haven’t been in the lineup and we’ve got to get our shifts and rotations right. Right now, it’s just not happening.”
GAME 1
San Marcos held off a late rally from Angleton to earn the victory.
The Wildcats scored two runs in the top of the first inning. But the Rattlers immediately bounced back. Junior infielders Isaac Mancias and Isaac Gonzalez both reached base with a walk and a single, respectively, and both stole a base after a wild pitch by Angleton. Sophomore outfielder Kannon Webb brought them both home with a single up the middle and eventually scored later in the frame to tie the game back up at 3-3.
The visitors tied it back up at 3-3 in the third inning, but the hosts found a way to get back in front. Senior cleanup hitter Ruben Miranda was walked in the fifth inning and subbed out for junior pinch runner Devin Camacho. The Wildcats walked the next batter, and an error by the first baseman during the next at bat gave Camacho enough time to turn two bases. San Marcos went up, 4-3, then extended the lead to 8-3 with four runs in the sixth.
Angleton nearly came back, picking up three runs in the seventh with just one out. But the Rattlers hung on to take the 8-6 victory.
Senior pitcher Andrew Moreno earned the win in relief of junior starter Gage Mason with two strikeouts. Junior pitcher Aaron Martinez closed out in the seventh, getting the final two outs.
“We had timely hitting,” Webb said. “We had some guys that we kind of changed the rotation up. We got good starting pitching and Gage (Mason) gave us a great opportunity and Andrew (Moreno) came in. We just got to learn how to finish. Angleton’s a team that’s a perennial playoff team that goes three or four rounds deep. So, it was a good look for us.”
GAME 2
Angleton jumped on top early in the second game of the day. The Wildcats scored one run in the top of the first.
But San Marcos answered quickly in the bottom frame. After drawing back-to-back one-out walks, Miranda hit an RBI single to tie the game. Kannon Webb hit an RBI groundout to put the Rattlers on top, 2-1. Senior Nick Villalobos hit an RBI double to extend San Marcos lead to 3-1.
After a strong bottom of the first, the Rattlers had a disastrous inning in the field in the second. Angleton scored eight runs to take a commanding 9-3 lead.
San Marcos began the bottom of the second with a leadoff triple from junior left fielder Ryan Wilder. Mancias hit an RBI single to cut the deficit to 9-4. But it would be the last run the Rattlers would score.
Angleton continued to take advantage of San Marcos mistakes and scored three runs in third inning and four in the fourth inning.
The Rattlers couldn’t rally and fell by run-rule, 17-4.
“We fell asleep,” Webb said. “We didn’t make some routine plays. Some guys just took offense to defense and we had some baserunning blunders when all that kind of piles together it leads to big, bad innings and we didn’t do anything to stop it when that bleeding happens. We still had some opportunities to get in there … It just happened. It’s baseball.”
San Marcos returned to the diamond on Saturday against Clear Lake for another doubleheader. Both games ended after press time.
