The University of the Southwest Baseball Team hosted Oklahoma Panhandle State University over the weekend at Jake Williams Field in Hobbs, NM. Last year, Southwest took three of four from Panhandle and was looking to win the series once again this season. The Mustangs would once again take three of four from their visitors from Oklahoma, improving their record to 7-4.
 
GAME 1
OPSU got off to a hot start when they put up seven total runs in the first inning off of started AJ Cordova. Cordova would settle in a throw four more hitless, shutout innings, allowing the offense to spark up in the fourth inning. 
 
Sophomore Hayden Woods led off the fourth with a single and moved over to third base following a walk and groundout. Junior Gabe Najera would reach on an error to allow Woods to score USW's first run of the game. Junior Omar Baldenegro drove in Sophomore Jesus Baldonado with an RBI single. Two batters later, an infield single from Sophomore Kevin Rase scored the third run of the inning. 
 
Woods would get another rally started in the fifth inning with a 1-out triple to left center. Baldonado walked, and Junior Jose Chavez Jr doubled to left to score the two runners. Freshman Derrick Martinez stepped up in a pinch-hitting situation and blasted one to left field for a two-run home run, making it a 7-7 ballgame. A few batters later, Junior Gavin VanGronigen would single in another run to give the Mustangs the lead. 
 
USW would add some insurance in the sixth inning when Najera was walked with the bases loaded. Baldenegro would score another with a sacrifice fly, and courtesy runner Hunter Wright would score on a passed ball a handful of batters later. The comeback would be topped off with a three-run bomb from VanGronigen to seal the game at 14-7 and cap off his four RBI day. 
 
Cordova finished with seven runs, four of them earned, only allowing four hits and striking out two. Sophomore Chisum Rush shut down OPSU in the final two innings to earn the save and give the Mustangs the win. 
 
GAME 2
Panhandle looked to get going once again after allowing a huge comeback in the first game of the series. A leadoff triple in the first inning would get them going, as that runner would eventually score on a single.
 
After a 1-2-3 inning for the Mustangs on offense, OPSU got to work once again. They would rally for six runs in the top half of the second, knocking out starter Cody Stone early and getting into the Southwest bullpen. Sophomore Dakota Cummings would come in to calm things down for 1.1 of an inning. 
 
The USW offense looked to spark another comeback in the third inning when Santiago Garcia drove in a run to make it 7-1. A couple of batters later, Carlos Jaquez-Munoz singled to left center to bring in another run. 
 
Panhandle would answer back in the fifth inning with six runs off of five hits and an error from the Mustang defense, making it a 13-2 ballgame. 
 
The Mustangs would add two in the bottom of the sixth when Sophomore Isaiah Garcia hit an RBI triple and then later scored on a wild pitch. One more runner crossed home plate for USW with a Hayden Woods single, but that would be the end of it, with OPSU taking game 2 13-6.  
 
GAME 3
Panhandle would continue to get their early offense going in the series with two runs scored in the first inning of the ballgame. 
 
Southwest would answer by dropping a seven spot in the bottom half of the inning. After a couple of singles and a walk, Woods would reach on an error to score the first run of the inning. Baldonado would walk to bring in the second run. Kevin Rase then doubled down the left field line to clear the bases and make it 5-2. After a walk, Gabe Najera singled to right field to drive in Rase. Two batters later, Kevan Diaz reached on an error to drive in the seventh run of the inning. 
 
In the bottom of the 2^nd, a walk and hit by pitch would eventually lead to Rase doubling to left center to add two more RBIs, making it five on the day for him. Najera would single two batters later to drive in Rase once again for a 10-2 lead.  
 
The Mustangs made some noise with two outs in the fifth, which allowed them to bring home another run when Rase scored on a wild pitch. 
 
The final runs of USW's offensive explosion came in the fifth inning. After a few runners reached base, Rase walked to bring in the twelfth run of the game for the Mustangs. Chavez Jr was hit by the next pitch to bring in another, and Najera walked next to score one last run of the game. 
 
OPSU was able to scrap two final runs of the game, but it would be too late as USW would take game 3 2-0. 
 
Freshman Auden Bustamante threw well after a shaky first inning. He hurled four innings with one hit and one earned run allowed while also striking out seven. Sophomore Angel Rios threw an inning with two strikeouts, and Junior Caden Davis finished it up with two innings thrown, one earned run, and one strikeout.
 
GAME 4
After a lot of offense from both sides in the first three games of the series, we were due for a pitchers' duel, and that is precisely what we got in the series' final game. Following his save a day before, Chisum Rush took the mound for the Mustangs and delivered big. 
 
The Sophomore right-hander threw a complete game shutout while only allowing five hits and striking out four batters on 69 pitches. 
 
The offense was able to scrape a run for Rush in both the fourth and fifth innings. Junior Eliazar Torres singled with two outs in the fourth two bring in Isaiah Garcia. In the fifth, Kevan Diaz doubled to left center to bring in Santiago Garcia for the 2-0 lead. 
 
Head Coach Steve Appel had this to say following the series victory, "Obviously, winning a series is what it's about, however, we need to come out of the gate a little better. On the second day, our starting arms did a much better job limiting their offense in the first couple of innings. Overall, I thought our mentality was good throughout the weekend, and it was important to win a series heading into the first conference weekend against a good team, and on the road." 
 
"It's still very early, and we are still working out some of the kinks. A big bonus this weekend is we had some guys come off the bench and provide some big sparks for us. If we can throw strikes, play sound defense, and work the counts as we have, this club can do some great things." 
 
"Now we have to turn our focus on opening up conference and playing on the road for the first time. We will get back to work Monday morning."
 
The Mustangs hit the road for the start of conference as they head to Texas to take on Texas A&M-Texarkana. Continue to follow USW Athletics and USW Baseball on all social media for scores and updates throughout the season.