Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 HOBBS, NM---The Mustang Baseball program kicked off their 2020 season on Friday afternoon as they hosted the Central Christian Tigers (Kan.) for a 4-game series. The two teams met last year on Opening Day as the Mustangs took the series 3 games to 1. The Mustangs continued their winning ways against the Tigers on Friday as they took both games of the double-header thanks in part to a huge day by the offense. The Mustang bats came out on fire in Game 1 as they scored 14 runs in the 7-inning game. Game 2 took some work, but the Mustangs grinded out some runs late, to win 8-6. 

"I thought the atmosphere in Game 1 was awesome" said Head Coach Steve Appel. " I appreciate everyone coming out to support. I think it shows where we are at within the department! Our guys came out of the gate and played well overall today. We have some new pieces to our puzzle and it was fun seeing them contribute." 

GAME 1

Junior JJ Kruzel got the Opening Day start for the Mustangs for the 2nd straight year and earned his first win of the season. The righty from Little Elm went 5 innings allowing only 3 hits and 1 walk, and struck out 6 batters along the way. 

The Mustang offense hit the ground running on Friday as they scored 3 runs in the 1st inning all with 2-outs. The Mustangs would go on to score in every inning except the 4th on their way to 14 runs. Tariq Levesque and Ismael Brenes both had 3 hits on the afternoon. Levesque, Dominic Baca and Brian Rodriguez all hit home runs in Game 1. Every Mustang starter recorded a run scored on the afternoon. 

The Mustangs had 14 runs on 16 hits and left 8 men on. 

GAME 2 

After scoring 14 runs in Game 1, the Mustang offense started off a bit slow in Game 2 as it took them till the 4th inning to get on the board. But when they did, they exploded for 6 runs in the bottom half of the 4th. Unfortunately the Tigers would answer with 6 runs of their own in the next half inning to tie the game at 6-6. But the Mustangs never faultered as they scored a single run in both the 5th and the 6th to give themselves the lead and the eventual victory. 

Brian Rodriguez, CJ Aviles, Mikey Davis, and Ismael Brenes all had 4 hits in Game 2 Nicholas Palomino went 1-3 in the game with 2 RBI's and 1 run scored. 

Junior Orlan Warren got the start on the mound for the Mustangs and lasted 4 1/3 innings as he left the game with 2 runners on base. Alex Peterson made his collegiate debut on the mound in the middle of the 5th inning and pitched the final 2 2/3 innings to earn his first career collegiate victory. 

"I thought we played defense extremely well today." said Coach Appel. " We pitched well overall and our starters were able to keep their pitch counts down in both outings. I tip my hat to our hitters today, they came out swinging and executed some timely small ball to open up some gaps. Now the tough part, come back to the field tomorrow ready to roll!" 

The Mustangs are back in action tomorrow afternoon as 1st pitch has been pushed up to 11:30 AM MST due to projected darkness. Game 4 of the series will be 30 minutes following the completion of Game 3. 



GAME NOTES

• Omar Baldenegro, Isaiah Montoya, Alex Peterson and Jeremy Dibartolomeo all made their collegiate and USW debuts today
• Junior Nicholas Palomino made his USW debut in Game 1
• Junior Brian Rodriguez hit his first career home-run in Game 1's 14-0 victory
• Senior CJ Aviles is 4 walks away from setting the USW All-Time record for Career Walks
• Junior JJ Kruzel is tied for 5th All-Time in Career Games Started
• Kruzel is 14 strikeouts away from setting the Career Strikeouts record held by Alex Goodman (157 in Goodman's career)
• The 3 homeruns in Game 1 today is tied for the 3rd most in a game in USW history