The University of the Southwest Baseball Team took on the University of Houston-Victoria in a three-game conference series over the weekend. The Mustangs entered the weekend at (13-3) and (6-0) in conference play and sitting atop the Red River Standings. The Jaguars of UHV entered the weekend at (8-6) and (4-2) in RRAC play. When the two teams matched up a year ago they split the four-game conference series with Southwest winning the first two and UHV taking games three and four. 
 
After the series, Head Coach Steve Appel explained "The games were not pretty at all times, however, the guys found ways to sweep the series. They know the targets are on their back and winning will be difficult at times. Overall, we had timely hitting, decent pitching, and pretty good defensive play. Our guys showed fight all weekend long against a good UHV team."
 
Game 1: The Jaguars would strike first in game one taking a 1-0 lead in the top half of the first inning. The Mustangs would then explode for seven runs in the bottom half of the second and take control of the game. UHV added a run in the third, fourth, and fifth to make the score 7-4 before the Mustangs added a run of their own in the bottom half of the fifth. The Jaguars were able to capitalize on a Mustang error in the seventh and score three to make the score 8-7. Cade Contreras would come on to throw a scoreless eighth and Isaac Baeza threw a scoreless ninth to earn the save and secure the 8-7 victory for the Mustangs. AJ Cordova allowed four runs in four innings of work, TJ Ruiz earned the victory by throwing three innings and not allowing an earned run. Gabriel Perez-Torres had two RBIs in the contest, Tariq Levesque was two for four with an RBI. Brian Rodriguez was two for four with an RBI and a walk, Gabe Najera was two for three with a run scored, and Nicholas Palomino was two for four with a run scored. 
 
Game 2: The seven-inning contest saw the Mustangs get out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. Southwest would add another run in the third to make it 3-0 before the Cougars got on the board in the fifth making it 3-1. The Mustangs didn't waste time in responding, adding four in the bottom half of the inning and making it 7-1 headed to the sixth. The Jaguars would rally in the top of the seventh scoring four before Cade Contreras came on and retired the three batters he faced to record the save and secure the 7-5 victory. Freshman starter Rocky Sanchez cruised through six innings before running into some trouble in the seventh. His final line was six innings, five runs, three strikeouts, and the victory. Tariq Levesque was two for three with three RBIs and a run scored. Four other Mustangs had an RBI in the contest: Gabriel Perez-Torres, Brian Rodriguez, Nicholas Palomino, and Gabe Najera. 
 
Game 3: The Mustangs entered game three looking for their third straight conference series sweep and would have to do it from a deficit this time. They fell behind 3-0 in the top of the second inning before rallying for four in the bottom half of the inning to make it 4-3. The Mustangs would add a run in the bottom of the fourth and UHV countered with one of their own in the top of the sixth. The score would remain the same the rest of the way with the Mustangs earning the 5-4 victory to complete the sweep. The bullpen was phenomenal in the contest going seven innings and allowing only one run. Jacob Chavarria came on in relief in the top of the third and threw four innings, allowing one run, striking out three, and earning the victory. Caden Davis relieved him, throwing two scoreless innings with two strikeouts and Isaac Baeza earned his fifth save of the year with a scoreless ninth. The save puts Baeza tied for first nationally in the NAIA. The Mustangs offense had 12 hits in the contest with four Mustangs having multi-hit games; Jose Chavez Jr. (3), Omar Baldenegro, Kevin Rase, and Andru Sanchez. 
 
Coach Appel spoke on the effort his bullpen gave on the weekend saying "Our bullpen was tremendous all weekend. They pounded the zone and were able to get big outs when we needed them." He emphasized that with the early success there will be challenges adding "We have to continue to work hard and understand that everyone is trying to knock us down. We go into a crucial road stretch, so our guys need to be more focused than ever. This team continues to buy in and wants to keep improving the program standards. I'm excited to go to work with them Monday."
 
The Mustangs who now sit at (16-3) and (9-0) in conference play, sit at the top of the standings in the RRAC. They will be faced with a challenging stretch coming up where they will travel to Louisiana to take on Xavier (LA) March 12^th and 13^th, play a midweek doubleheader against the 12^th ranked Loyola University March 15th, and a conference series on March 17^th and 18^th against the 10^th ranked Pilots of LSU Shreveport. Overall it will be eight games in seven days on the 10-day road trip.