His brother is a Texas State football commit, his father a football and the team’s head baseball coach and now he is the next Webb to stick onto the scene.
San Marcos had already aced their first test of the season earlier in the day with a 9-0 win over San Antonio Warren. Freshman Kutter Gage Webb played in his very first varsity game, reaching base all four times in the Rattlers’ second game of their home tournament. They needed each one of his base appearances to turn an eight-run deficit at the bottom of the third into an 11-10 win against No. 2 in 5A Region IV Kerrville Tivy.
Webb recalls watching this team reach the third round of the playoffs in 2016 and wanting to reach that pinnacle as a Rattler.
“The ball looked like a big beach ball today,” Webb said. “I saw it very well and was able to square up two balls. I've lived for this my whole life, walking on the bus, riding with the team, beating Boerne Champion in game one in 2016. I’ve lived with this, so I’m glad we came out today and beat Tivy.”
With the first two innings taking over an hour and a half to play, both teams agreed they would stay on the field until the time limit expired. Trailing 10-3 after the top of the third inning, the rule favored the Antlers but it also sped up the sense of urgency in the Rattler dugout. One of the points of emphasis this season is head coach Bryan Webb knocking the youth mentality out of his team's head.
“After the first scrimmage I told them, ‘We are not freshmen and sophomores anymore, you’re a varsity player and nobody's gonna feel sorry for you because you're 15 years old, playing against 18 year olds,’” Bryan said. “You gotta go play and if you'll just play hard and just play to the best of your ability, the wins will take care of itself.”
His underclassmen got the message. Sophomore outfielder Major Pellien heard the speech loud and clear when he let off his second RBI double on the night, which he said he surprised himself when he hit it. Behind that were sophomores Ryan Hix and Dallas Calderon finding success with back-to-back RBIs tying the game at 10. With the bases loaded, Coastal Bend commit Selvin Anderson got walked, bringing in San Marcos’ game-winning run, 11-10.
The eight-run comeback win marked the largest deficit the Rattlers were able to rally from since their 10-run comeback against San Antonio Steele in the 2012-13 season, which they won, 12-11. The trash talk on the field was serious and the Rattlers used that as fuel to push them over the top.
“Pretty much, they were just talking as soon as they got onto the field. They would not shut up even before the game started,” Pelien said. “They started meowing at us and just making weird noises. They made fun of Dallas (Calderon) for his height and we just got tired of it.”
Coach Webb was pleased with his team's ability to find something to fuel them in times of controversy.
“It was good to see,” Bryan said. “They battled, and we could've quit down 10-2. Base to base mentality, let's go back up there, a lot of jawing on the field to kind of upset them a little bit and they didn't get caught up in it and just went to work. For a team with a bunch of young guys, that's very impressive.”
