The University of the Southwest Baseball Program accomplished something this weekend that hasn't happened in a very long time. As a matter of fact, many of the student-athletes on roster weren't even in grade school the last time this was accomplished. That feat was winning 30 games as a program. The Mustangs closed out their 2019 campaign with a series win over Texas A&M: Texarkana two games to 1pushing their final record to 30-23. This is the most wins for the program since 2004 when the program went 34-15 in Jim Marshall's final season as the Head Coach of USW. 

Friday afternoon the Mustangs hosted First Responders Day at Jake Williams Field as former USW player & Hobbs Deputy Fire Chief Barry Young threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Barry was a member of the 1999 Mustang team that defeated Texas Tech 7-4 on April 19, 1999 and a member of the RRAC All-Academic Team. 


Friday---Game 1---7 inning
USW 3---Texarkana 2

The Mustangs went back to their sophomore ace JJ Kruzel to take the ball in Game 1 and they used some late-game magic to come away with a 3-2 victory to take Game 1 of the series. 

Kruzel lasted 5.1 innings allowing 4 hits, 2 runs (1 earned) and struck out 4. David Flores came in for relief in the top of the 6th inning and recorded the final 5 outs of the game to earn himself his 10th save of the season. 

The offense used a 3-run 5th inning to take the lead and they never looked back. With 2 outs in the inning and 2 runners on base, Head Coach Steve Appel called upon junior 2nd basemen Isamel Brenes to come in for a pinch hit. Brenes sent the first pitch he saw down the right field line for an RBI single to tie the game up. Brian Rodriguez came up next and singled to left bringing home Jake Wyly to give the Mustangs the 2-1 lead. Senior PJ Sanchez then singled to right to bring home Brenes to give the Mustangs the 3-1 lead. 



Friday---Game 2---9 inning
Texarkana 4---USW 2

The Eagles used some late game magic of their own to steal Game 2 after the Mustangs held the lead for the first 6 innings of the ballgame. USW jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after the 1st inning courtesy of a Tariq Levesque triple followed by an error off the bat of CJ Aviles to keep the inning alive, then Micah Tambur doubled to left field to bring home Aviles. 

But that was all for the Mustang offense on the day, who tend to get into funks after scoring early in games. 

Senior Axel Arrieta got the start one more time for the Mustangs and ended his Mustang career on a high note, despite earning the loss. Arrieta who has been at USW since 2016, threw 7.1 innings allowing 6 hits, 3 earned runs and striking out 7. The first 6 innings of the game was the most dominant Arrieta has looked all season, but he lost gas in the 7th inning when the Eagles plated 3 runs on 3 hits and 1 error. Senior Nacho Elizalde threw his last 1.2 innings of his Mustang career and allowed 1 hit, 1 run and 3 walks in the final 2 innings. 


Saturday---Game 3---9 inning
USW 8---Texarkana 5

Saturday afternoon marked the final collegiate game for 8 Mustang seniors. USW honored all 8 seniors before the game as they were presented their red jersey and took pictures on the field with their family and USW coaches. 6 of the 8 seniors had major impacts on the game (Arrieta & Elizalde threw on Friday and were unavailable to throw again on Saturday). 

Senior Marvin Galarza got the start on the bump for the Mustangs and showed USW one last time why he has been a rock in the pitching staff over the past 3 seasons. Galarza went 6 innings allowing 5 runs and striking out 4 along the way. Galarza handed the ball off to fellow senior Alex Goodman who threw the next 2.2 innings allowing 0 hits, 0 runs and striking out 3. Goodman then handed the ball to the last senior David Flores with 2 outs in the 9th and Flores struck out the final batter in his career on a fastball looking. The 3 seniors held a good Eagle offense to only 5 runs and struck out 8 hitters on the afternoon. 

With the seniors taking care of the pitching on the mound, it was only right for the 3 senior position players to have an impact on the game as well. All 3 senior position players are 4-year USW seniors and are graduating this May.

Leadoff man and senior Ben Tingen led the way for the offense with 3 hits on the afternoon and 3 runs scored. Tingen played his final game with USW and will go down as the all-time games played leader at USW with 157 games played, passing former centerfield Bryan Hernandez who played 156 games in his career at USW. 

Senior PJ Sanchez may not have had a great day in the stat book, but if this were hockey, he would have had a few assists to his name. Sanchez came up with runners on in every at-bat on the day. Every inning that the Mustangs scored and Sanchez came to bat, he put a runner in scoring position which allowed for the next man to drive him in. 

Senior Micah Tambur did something Saturday that he had not done in his entire 4-year career at USW: hit a home run. In the bottom of the 6th, Tambur walked to the plate as the leadoff hitter of the inning with the Mustangs down 1. After the 1st pitch was thrown, the Mustangs were no longer trailing. Tambur blasted the 1st pitch he saw deep over the left field fence for his 1st career home run. Tambur was 2-2 on the day with 3 RBIs, 2 walks and 2 stolen bases. Tambur put the Mustangs ahead in the bottom of the 7th as he singled to left bringing home Tingen and Levesque to give the Mustangs a 7-5 lead. 


"Not only are we losing great baseball players, we are losing great people. Each and everyone one of these kids will have a specia, special place in my heart. These guys, especially threoff of them believed in me and the vision that I had for this program. These guys have laid a foundation for this program moving forward and I wish them all nothing but success in their lives." Head Coach Steve Appel had to say about this 8 graduating seniors.