SMHS BASEBALL
With the game tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth with two outs against the East Central Hornets, junior catcher Colson Geesee came up to bat with a clear mindset looking to give the Rattlers a critical district win.
“[My] mind was cleared, not a thought in the world,” Geesee said. “Just thinking about what I’m gonna do with this next pitch when it comes in. [I] got the breaking ball, turned on it and then let it fly.”
Geesee crushed the pitch over the wall in left field for a thrilling walkoff home run to seal a 2-1 victory over the Hornets, completing a two-game sweep over their district opponents.
The improved the Rattlers record to 11-5-1 overall and their district record to 3-2.
Head Coach Bryan Webb was proud of his team and pitching staff for bouncing from a tough loss to Clemens.
“[Joaquin] Renteria had beaten us twice,” Webb said. “He pitched a heck of a ballgame and kept us off balance. I knew going in here, this was probably gonna go extra innings and we were going to have to win it late. We were fortunate to pull one out right there, but our pitching staff has come eight miles since last Friday when they gave up 20 hits and 14 runs. We structured it like we needed it to get who we needed when we needed, and how we needed. So it worked out pretty well.”
The Rattler pitching staff of Zehavi Hernandez, Cole Wiatrek, Charlie Helgeson and Andrew Wilson allowed a combined four hits, one earned run, five walks and striking out six batters.
“They do one hell of a job,” Geesee said. “Especially Andrew coming in there to finish. They are strong.”
After taking two district losses to Clemens the previous week, the Rattlers went back to work during the week to correct their issues both on offense and defense.
“They needed to get in there and they needed to hear what they were doing wrong,” Webb said. “I’m never going to sugarcoat anything. I showed them exactly what we need to do, how you’re going to win it, this is why you’re doing it in practice, this is what you do and this is how you win. They really bought into it.
“They’re just like the other teams that have ever been here. They’re following what’s happened here. They followed progressions and they’re taking practice now to the games and they’re starting to believe in it.”
The response was a 10-0 win over the Hornets on the road before beating East Central at home.
San Marcos closed out their weekend with their third straight win on Saturday, beating the San Antonio Churchill Chargers 12-6 for Webb’s 450th career win.
The Rattlers are back home Tuesday for a district showdown with the Judson Rockets. The Rockets enter the game with a 3-12 overall record and a 0-2 district record. In district play last week, Judson was swept by Cibolo Steele, losing the first game 12-1 before dropping the second game 14-2.
First pitch is set for 7 p.m. at San Marcos.
cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc
