210GAMEDAY.COM | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
AJ Clark had 18 points and 6 rebounds, Ben Hanley had 15 points and Kaleb Jenkins had 10 points and 3 steals for the Tigers.
Trinity is 10-2 on the season. The Tigers play their next game on the road on Dec. 30 at Incarnate Word.
Jordan finished with 16 points and 10 assists as the Rattlers won their 2021-22 home opener 97-70 over Huston-Tillotson on Saturday.
Josh Brewer led St. Mary’s with 21 points, Kobe Magee had 13, C.J. Washington had 12 and Ryan Leonard had 11.
The Rattlers evened their record to 2-2 with road games coming up against UT-Permian Basin on Dec. 11 and Angelo State on Dec. 13. St. Mary’s plays its next home game on Dec. 18 against A&M-International.
The Rattlers take on Huston-Tillotson at 4 p.m. at Greehey Arena.
St. Mary’s is coming off a 75-65 road loss to UTSA on Monday. The Rattlers trailied most of the game but were within five points with less than three minutes remaining in the game.
Caleb Jordan led St. Mary’s with 17 points, Mamady Djikine had 15 points and 8 rebounds, Kobe Magee 11 points and Emmanuel Ewuzie had 10 points and 9 rebounds.
Longtime head coach Buddy Meyer was at the Rattlers’ helm and Jim Zeleznak was the top assistant coach when they claimed the 1989 championship trophy in Kansas City. Both were former St. Mary’s players. Meyer had been a member of the Rattlers’ first team to reach the national tournament.
All these years later, the St. Mary’s coaching staff has a familar look.
Zeleznak is in his 17th season as the Rattlers’ head coach, having taken over when Meyer retired after 27 years.
Meyer’s son Bubba, who played for his father at St. Mary’s, is in his 21st season as the team’s assistant coach.
And Monday, when St. Mary’s made the short road trip to the north side of San Antonio to play UTSA, Buddy Meyer was in the stands right behind the Rattlers’ bench.
Enzo Sechi, a junior forward from Houston, led the Tigers with 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Brown, a sophomore guard from San Antonio, finished with 14 points. Jacob Harvey, a freshman guard from Huffman, Texas, scored 14 points off the bench.
One example of what the San Antonio Missions lost this season:
– Jack Suwinski led the team in home runs with 15. The 23-year-old outfielder was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization on July 26, so he was the Missions’ leader despite not being with the team for almost the last two months of the season.
More statistical notes:
– Eguy Rosario played more games in a Missions uniform than anyone else this summer at 114. Kyle Overstreet was second at 103.
– Rosario was second on the team in home runs with 12 and second in stolen bases with 30. Rosario was the Missions’ opening day second baseman and was with the team all summer, playing shortstop late in the season.
– Outfielder Esteury Ruiz led the Missions in stolen bases with 36.
– Infielder Allen Cordoba led the Missions in batting average at .299 (not including players who appeared in less than 10 games). Cordoba played in 74 games. He didn’t start playing until June 8.
– CJ Abrams entered the season as the Missions’ most highly regarded prospect. The 20-year-old shortstop was limited to only 42 games due to injuries. He finished second on the team in batting at .296, but went on the injured list for the second time on July 8 and didn’t play again.
– Adrian Martinez (7-3) led Missions pitchers in wins, led their starters in ERA (2.34) and was second in starts (13).
– Reiss Knehr was 6-1 in 11 starts before moving up to pitch for both the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas and San Diego Padres.
– Reliever Carlos Belen led the Missions staff in appearances with 39. Henry Henry (38), Nick Kuzia (37), Jose Quezada (35) and James Reeves (31) all had 30-plus appearances.
Some players were notable for what they did after they moved up.
– Jose Azocar played in 79 games for the Missions, mostly in center field. He batted .276 with nine home runs and six triples. He is batting .324 for El Paso, second on the team, and is currently leading the Triple-A West in triples with seven despite only playing in 37 games at that level so far.
– Robbie Podorsky opened the season with the Missions but never played at Wolff Stadium. After batting .370 in seven road games, the speedy outfielder was promoted to El Paso. He is batting .275 with five home runs in Triple A, but has been limited to 27 games due to injuries.
– Taylor Kohlwey leads El Paso in batting at .339. He was with the Missions on opening day and played in 18 games for San Antonio before moving up.
– Matt Batten is fourth in hitting for El Paso at .301. He was with the Missions on opening day and played in six games before moving up.
– Pitcher Caleb Boushley has made 15 starts with a 3-8 record in El Paso since being called up on June 21. He was 2-3 in eight games with the Missions.
– Knehr has appeared in seven games in El Paso, four as a starter. His role changed after leaving San Antonio, where he was a starter. He was called up to San Diego four times, appearing in eight games and starting twice. He has a 1-0 record and 3.93 ERA with the Padres.
The Hooks jumped out to an early lead with six runs in the first inning and three more in the second.
The Missions’ only run came in the fourth inning, when Augustin Ruiz doubled and then scored on a double by Olivier Basabe.
In a final game of the season between two teams with losing records, Missions relievers shut out the Hooks over the final seven innings.
Sam McWilliams pitched the third inning and allowed one hit, Mason Fox went 2 1/3 innings and allowed one hit while striking out five, James Reeves pitched 1 2/3 innings and allowed one hit with five strikeouts, and Henry Henry pitched the last two innings and allowed one hit with two strikeouts.
Javy Guerra pitched in a combined 22 games in relief for the San Diego Padres in 2019 and 2020. He hasn’t pitched in the majors this season due to an elbow issue.
The 6-foot, right-hander from Panama was assigned to the Missions on a rehab assignment Saturday and pitched the fifth inning on Saturday night. He retired the side in order with no hits, walks or strikeouts.
Kevin Kopps, playing in his first summer of pro ball after a stellar college career at Arkansas, pitched at Wolff Stadium for the second time this week. He worked the scoreless ninth inning, allowing no hits, one walk and no strikeouts.
Eguy Rosario scored the Missions’ only run in the fourth inning. He doubled, went to third on a wild pitched and went home on Dwanya Williams-Sutton’s sacrifice fly.
The highly regarded San Diego Padres prospect made his second start of the season for the San Antonio Missions in a 4-1 victory over the Corpus Christi Hooks.
Gore did not get a decision, pitching four innings and allowing one run on three hits, three walks and eight strikeouts. He made his first start for the Missions on the road last week, going five innings and allowing two runs.
The 6-foot-2 left-hander was a first-round draft pick, No. 3 overall, by the Padres in 2017.
The game was tied 1-1 heading into the late innings. The Missions got a solo home run from Michael Curry in the seventh inning to take the lead for good. Eguy Rosario added a two-run homer in the eighth for the final runs of the game.
Ruiz’s key hit was a bases-loaded cracked-bat bloop that landed near the right-field line. That broke a 3-3 tie and put the Missions up 6-3. The Missions weren’t done that inning as they put up five runs with RBI hits by Ethan Skender and Eguy Rosario to surge in front 8-3.
The Hooks made it interesting when they scored a run in the eighth and loaded the bases in the top of the ninth and scored two more.
The Missions’ first three runs came in the second inning. Esteury Ruiz had a two-run hit. Michael Curry doubled to drive in Dwanya Williams-Sutton with the first run of the game.
Missions starting pitcher Jerry Keel went six innings and allowed three runs, two earned. Sam Williams (3-2) pitched a scoreless seventh inning and earned the win.
