TYLER, TEXAS – The UT Tyler baseball bats are hot, and they showed no signs of cooling off on Saturday afternoon as they came away with a pair of wins over St. Mary's.
 
GAME ONE
 
UT Tyler faced its first deficit of the series on Saturday quickly as the Rattlers jumped out to a 1-0 lead thanks to a homer in the top half of the first. However, just as they have shown in the early part of the season, it doesn't take long to get the bats warmed up, and they answered in the bottom half of the first as Jordan Gochenour came up clutch with an RBI single to right. Two batters later, the double steal went on as Ethan Bedgood drew the throw from the plate to second base and allowed Tommy van de Sanden to score and give the Patriots the lead.
 
In the top of the second, the Rattlers answered right back, connecting on a three run blast to center field to take the lead 4-2 and put the Patriots back on their heels.
 
The Patriots have shown they can answer runs with more runs, and they jumped all over St. Mary's in the second inning, scoring four runs with two outs to regain the lead. In that stretch, van de Sanden kickstarted the rally with an RBI single to left, and Gochenour stayed hot with another RBI single himself. The inning finished with an Austin Ochoa RBI single, this one plating two more runs.
 
After the tough start from starter A.J. Irvin, head coach Brent Porche went to sophomore Garrett Arredondo to hold back the Rattlers. Arredondo responded with a big 1-2-3 inning, and the Patriots tacked on two more runs in the bottom half with an RBI double and a wild pitch to make it 8-4. Another 1-2-3 inning followed in the fourth, and the Patriots kept the offensive showcase going with three more runs in the bottom half.
 
Ochoa came up with an RBI double, and Kaston Mason connected on the long ball for the fifth time in his young career for a two run blast to center field.
 
Arredondo would allow his first baserunner in the fifth, but worked around it with a popup, flyout, and a groundout to keep the Rattlers scoreless. Another wild pitch plated a run for the Patriots in the fifth, and Arredondo stepped up for the final inning of his night in the sixth and set St. Mary's down in order yet again.
 
In the seventh, the Rattlers tried to claw their way back in as they scored a pair of runs off of Nick Oslovar and Bryson Adair, but Adair would get a strikeout and a flyout to end the contest and the Rattlers three.
 
Jordan Gochenour went 3-4 in game one with two RBI and two runs scored. Austin Ochoa went 2-4 with two RBI. Kaston Mason collected his fifth home run in just his third career game while driving home three.
 
Garrett Arredondo won his first game of 2023 as he went four full innings and gave up just one hit while striking out four batters.
 
GAME TWO
 
A little bit of the opposite of game one seemed to take place in game two, as the Patriots took a 1-0 advantage in the first thanks to yet another RBi single from Gochenour. The Rattlers responded off of starter Brayden Freeman by driving home their first run in the second inning with an RBI single of their own.
 
They would take the lead in the top half of the third as three straight walks loaded the bases to start the inning. That meant the end of the night for Freeman, and Hayden Collins came on in replacement. A wild pitch would plate the first run, and an error quickly gave them another. A sacrifice fly plated a third run before the Patriots could get the final two outs on a caught stealing and another flyout.
 
With their backs against the wall, the Patriots went back to work in the bottom half by scoring two runs to cut the lead down to just one. Another Gochenour single was followed by a deep double to left center from Ochoa. A flyout to center would move him over, and he came around to score thanks to another wild pitch.
 
Collins went back to the mound in the fourth, and after a leadoff single he sat down the next three hitters with a pair of strikeouts thrown in to keep the Rattlers at bay.
 
A scoreless bottom half ensued, and Travis Onisto came on to pitch with one out in the top of the fifth. He promptly got out of the inning with a fielder's choice and a strikeout, but the Patriots bats stayed quiet in the fifth. Onisto answered the call again in the sixth, and delivered a 1-2-3 inning to keep the deficit at one.
 
The bottom half of the sixth was when the Patriots needed to make their move, and they put the pressure on the Rattlers quickly. A single and a walk were followed by an error that allowed the bases to be loaded, and Carson Cox hit a rocket that took a funny hop on the third baseman and bounced away. That allowed two to come around and score and the Patriots held the lead. A steal from Cox set up runners in scoring position, and another rocket from Tres Thomas forced an error from the second baseman and two more runs came around to score for a four run inning.
 
Looking to shut out the game, Onisto delivered another 1-2-3 inning that featured two strikeouts and gave the Patriots the win.
 
In game two, both Gochenour and Thomas came away with multi-hit games, while Cox, Gochenour, Ochoa, Ethan Bedgood, Bryce Jewell, and Edward Ortiz all came around to score.
 
Travis Onisto earned his first win as a Patriot with a 2.2 inning outing that saw no hits and four bigtime strikeouts.
 
The Patriots will now close out the series with St. Mary's on Sunday afternoon. That game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start time at Irwin Field.