Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 San Antonio, Texas—As the city of San Antonio kicked off the ten-day celebration known as Fiesta, the Panhandle State baseball team prepared to take on the second-ranked team in the Heartland Conference. The St. Mary's University series shifted to a Thursday/Friday lineup, as the school was set to host the Fiesta Oyster Bake, one of the premier events of the festival, on Friday and Saturday.

The Rattlers took a three-game sweep on the Aggies to start their weekend celebration early. An 8-0 shutout victory in game one on Thursday, gave way to a close contest in game two where the Aggies fell by one run 5-4. SMU finished off Friday's series finale with an 11-2 win to seal the sweep and secure a second-place rank within the conference on an even 20-20 overall record and 13 league wins.

Panhandle pitcher Adrian Lopez held the loss in game one, throwing 5.1 innings with eight hits and seven earned runs. Freshman right-hander Corey Ley came in to finish, facing three batters for the final two outs. The Aggies totaled five hits in game one, all singles, and left three runners on base.

Senior Josh Casillas got the start in game two and put the first three Rattlers down in order. He allowed one run in the second and just one hit in the third, while the Aggies tied things up at 1-1 with an RBI single by Chris Schraer in the top of the third inning. Panhandle pulled ahead 3-1 in the fourth when a double by Nate Kelly pushed Robert Rodriguez to third base; the pair crossed home on a throwing error by the Rattler outfield on Jake Bowman's at bat.  

The Rattlers answered with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning as a lead-off double was backed up by two singles and a sac bunt; an infield error by the Aggies scored the third run for St. Mary's. Empty innings in the fifth and sixth left Casillas on the mound, but with the Aggies down 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh, the Aggies looked to their bullpen after giving up a one run double with one on and one away in the bottom of the seventh. Tristan Hubler, also a senior, came in to relieve Casillas and settled in to toss the final two outs of the inning. The eighth inning brought out senior Logan Litton who finished out with zero hits and one walked batter over five faced. The Aggies had a great shot at a rally in the top of the eighth as second baseman Joseph Cerda led off with big triple to right field; catcher B.J. Henry brought him home on an RBI single with one out, but a pitching change for the Rattlers left the Aggies one run short of extending the game.

Henry struck first on Friday, sending Schraer home for an unearned run on a fielder's choice play in the first inning. However, the Aggies would not cross home again until the fifth inning when Henry, again, sent Schraer through on an RBI double down the leftfield line. It was too little, too late as the Rattlers held an 8-2 lead after the fifth and held the Aggies to two hits and zero runs for the remainder of the game. St. Mary's added three runs in the eighth to seal the deal. Senior Samuel Beattie took his tenth loss of the season in 4.2 innings of work; the lefty allowed ten hits and six earned runs with three strikeouts on the day. Sophomore Zane Grigsby entered in the fifth and threw two out with 15 batters faced. Grigsby gave up three hits and three earned runs on his watch.

The Aggies now sit 8-35 on the season and ninth in the Heartland Conference standings with one league win. They will break from conference play this week with a single game in Alva, Okla. on April 25; the team will take on Northwestern Oklahoma State Tuesday at 5 p.m. Panhandle will then host their final home series of the season this weekend with a three-game Heartland series against Texas A&M-International April 28-29. Friday's doubleheader begins at 1 p.m. with Saturday's game set for a Noon start; senior recognition takes place prior to first-pitch on Saturday. Live stats and video links for the remaining Aggie baseball games are available online at opsuaggies.com.