The University of the Southwest Baseball Program competed in their final 2 non-conference games of the 2019 season this week. The Mustangs hosted former conference foe Wayland Baptist on Tuesday in a 9-inning contest, then traveled to Midland, TX to face off against NCAA Division 3 opponent Sul Ross State at Midland College. The Mustangs used some late game magic to pull off both victories pushing their record to 28-19 on the season. The 28 wins is the most for Head Coach Steve Appel in a single season for his career and during his time at USW. 
 
 
USW 4---Wayland Baptist 2
 
The Mustangs coming off a conference sweep of Huston-Tillotson over the weekend, picked up right where they left off on Tuesday afternoon as they defeated Wayland Baptist 4-2 thanks to some key hits and errors from the Pioneers down the stretch. 
 
Carlos Baldenegro got his 2^nd start of the season for the Mustangs. The sophomore from Tolleson, AZ kept the Pioneer hitters off-balance all day long. Baldenegro went 7 innings, allowing 7 hits, 2 runs and punched out 4 hitters. Axel Arrieta and David Flores came in relief and threw scoreless 8^th and 9^th innings to secure the victory for the Mustangs. The save for Flores is his 9^th on the season, putting him 3^rd in the country in the category and extending his USW Career Saves lead. 
 
The offense did their part as they scored in the 3^rd, 6^th and 7^th innings to give themselves the lead. Tariq Levesque led the way with 2 hits on the afternoon including a double and RBI and run scored. Brian Rodriguez also had 2 hits in the leadoff spot. The Mustangs entered the bottom of the 7^th inning tied at 2-2. PJ Sanchez started off the inning with a single up the middle and was moved over via a Brian Rodriguez sacrifice bunt. Upon receiving the throw from the 3^rd basemen, Wayland Baptist 1^st basemen Dawin Santos fired the ball back to 2^nd base trying to catch Sanchez off-guard, but the throw was short of the bag and shortstop Gregory Ozuna was unable to keep the ball in front of him allowing the ball to trickle into the left-center gap allowing Sanchez to come around to score giving the Mustangs the 3-2 lead. Ben Tingen would later add an insurance run as the Pioneer bullpen walked the bases loaded and Jake Wyly drove home Tingen on a single to left field. 

This is the first time since 2010 that the Mustangs have won the season series over Wayland Baptist as the series history has been one-sided over the past decade. 
 
 
USW 15---Sul Ross 7 (14 innings)
 
Despite the final score, the game was much closer than the scoreboard indicates. The Mustang offense jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the bottom of the 4^th thanks to a leadoff homerun from freshman catcher EJ Rendon. That was immediately followed by a triple from sophomore Tariq Levesque, single from Jake Wyly and a 2 RBI triple from Ismael Brenes. Tariq Levesque then blasted a deep homerun over the right field fence to push the Mustang lead to 5-1. 
 
Orlan Warren got the start on the mound for the Mustangs and went 6 innings allowing 11 hits, 3 runs and struck out 8 hitters. Warren left the game with the lead as he handed the ball off to Ignacio Elizalde as he threw the 7^th inning allowing 1 hit, 1 walk and struck out 1 batter. Ezra Acosta was up next to throw the 8^th and Acosta struggled a bit. The freshman righthander allowed 1 run, 1 walk and had 1 strikeout. David Flores came in to close the game out and earn his 10^th save of the season, but allowed a 2-out homerun over the right field fence to Lobo 3^rdbaseman Daniel Rojo tying the game at 5-5.

Nick Martinez would come in for relief in the 11th inning and threw the last 4 innings, allowing 4 hits, 2 earned runs and striking out 2 to earn himself his 2nd win of the season. 
 
Both teams scored runs in the 12^th inning which kept the game alive until the Mustangs stepped to the plate in the top of the 14^th. The Mustangs exploded for 9 runs. The inning featured 3 Mustang hitters earning their 1^st hits of the game in their 8^th at-bats. Brian Rodriguez doubled to left-center allowing Christian Pimentel to cross the plate. Jacob Harris then singled to left field driving home Isamel Brenes and Brian Rodriguez. Four batters later, Dom Baca stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and crushed a 1-1 fastball deep over the left-center field fence to extend the Mustang lead to 14-6. 
 
The Mustangs had 18 hits on the day in the 14 inning affair. Tariq Levesque and Jake Wyly both had 4 hits as Levesque was a double short of the cycle. Ismael Brenes was 3-7 with 1 run and 2 RBIs in the 9-hole. Christian Pimentel reached base 5 times in the game and Jacob Harris drove home 3 runs in the game.