Dustdevils Bested By Rattlers in Tourney Opener

Box Score A strong pitching performance by St. Mary’s co-ace Rene Solis led the Rattlers to a 5-1 win over Texas A&M International in the opening round of the Heartland Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon at Sullivan Field on the Incarnate Word campus in San Antonio.

TAMIU got to Solis early, collecting four hits in the first two innings but the Dustdevils managed only one run on those hits and that was on an infield RBI single by Sean Smedley in the second inning. Solis limited the Dustdevils to two hits the rest of the way, both singles, with only two TAMIU runners reaching scoring position over the last seven innings.

Solis (8-1) threw 120 pitches in a complete game effort, allowing six hits with four strikeouts and one walk.

TAMIU took a 1-0 lead on Smedley’s RBI single in the second inning but St. Mary’s scored two runs in the bottom of that frame to claim a 2-1 lead. The Rattlers got the scoring started on a RBI triple by Nathan Humpal. Scott Slusher then gave StMU the lead with a sharply hit RBI single to third base.

St. Mary’s added an unearned run in the fifth inning before putting the game away on a 2-run home run blast over the left field fence by Al Gonzalez in the bottom of the seventh inning off TAMIU starter Abdel Rivera.

Rivera (9-3) kept the Dustdevils in the game most of the way but TAMIU’s bats could not get on track against the crafty Solis. Rivera allowed three earned runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts and one walk in 7.0 innings of work. Three TAMIU errors led to two unearned runs scored against Rivera.

TAMIU will play Arkansas-Fort Smith in an elimination game tomorrow at noon. The winner of that game will play the loser of the St. Edward’s vs. St. Mary’s game in another elimination game at 7 p.m.

The Dustdevils will have plenty of arms tomorrow with the bullpen seeing only one inning of action in today’s loss, a scoreless eighth inning by middle reliever Stephen Dickerson. UAFS used four pitchers in today's wild 14-13 opening round loss to St. Edward's.

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