- Box Score

STEPHENVILLE – The No. 15 Tarleton baseball team had little time to enjoy their new ranking before getting beat up by No. 13 St. Mary's in Tuesday's contest at Cecil Ballow baseball complex.

The Rattlers struck first in the top of the second inning when they scored a pair of runs courtesy of some timely small ball. An RBI-groundout and an RBI single put the visitors up 2-0 over the Texans.

Unfortunately for Tarleton, St. Mary's was not done that inning as they followed those two runs up with two more on an RBI-triple and an RBI-single.

Down 4-0 heading into the bottom half of the second, the Texans finally got on the board after third basemen Junnior Dishmey and first baseman Zane Hensley singled to lead off the inning. That is when centerfield Tim Rainey stepped up and hit a deep sacrifice fly that nearly left the park, but was enough to plate Dishmey, making it 4-1.

St. Mary's must have remember the first game that the two teams' played because they made sure in the fourth inning that Tarleton would not have an easy time getting back into the game.

In the top of the fourth, the Rattlers' Reagan Moczygemba and Jason Garcia both hit grand slams to put St. Mary's up 12-1. And if that wasn't enough, they added a solo home run back-to-back with the second grand slam, pushing the difference to 13-1.

The Texans found themselves in a huge hole to the No. 13 team in the country and needed to do something in a hurry to prevent a ten-run rule decision.

Tarleton had a chance to chip away at the lead in the bottom of the fifth when they loaded the bases on two hit-by-pitches and a walk. Dishmey was able to step up to the plate and draw another walk, scoring shortstop Nathan Hille for the Texans' second run of the ball game. This left the bases loaded for another chance to score, but the opportunity was spoiled.

St. Mary's went on to add three more in the top of the sixth on two home runs and another in the seventh, pushing their lead to 17-2.

With such a large deficit facing them, the Texans were unable to gain any momentum and fell to the Rattlers with a 17-2 final score.

Reliever Tanner Ross (0-1) was saddled with the loss after giving up three runs in 2/3 of an inning. Starter Kenneth Stockton was the lone bright spot in Tarleton's rotation, pitching a no-hit, shut-out first.

Hensley led the offense on the day, going 2-for-3 and picking up half of Tarleton's hits. Dishmey and Rainey both contributed the RBI's for the Texans.

Skye Severns (3-0) picked up the win for St. Mary's after tossing all seven innings for the Rattlers.

Tarleton (14-3) will look to move past the loss quickly as they travel to Southeastern Oklahoma for a three-game series Friday and Saturday.