The USW Mustangs opened the 2024 season against McPherson College in a 4 game series. The Mustangs took 3 out of 4 games with timely hitting and solid pitching to open the season. 

Game 1
 The Mustangs scored four runs in the 1st inning and the offense stayed hot by scoring in every inning by the 4th.  The offense was led by leadoff man David Amaya who was on base four times and was 2-3 with a double and single.  Isaiah Alba had 3 RBI and scored 2 runs and was 1-4 in game 1.  The Mustang's had 7 hits in game 1 and won the game 10-2.  A.J. Cordova was the starting pitcher for game 1 and he kept the McPherson Offense guessing at the plate.  A.J. threw 5 innings with 7 strikeouts and 1 earned run for the contest.  Angel Rios and Isaac Baeza each threw an inning to close out game 1 giving the Mustangs a 10-2 victory.   

Game 2 the offense stayed hot and had 11 hits total for the game.  Carlos Jaquez led the team with 3 hits and 3 RBI for the game.  David Amaya continued where he left off in game 1 and had 2 more hits with an RBI as well. Santiago Garcia was 1-2 with 2 RBI and 2 walks.  T.J Ruiz started game 2 for the Mustangs and threw 4 innings with 4 earned runs and 2 strikeouts.  The bullpen finished the game for the Mustangs as they went on to win game 2 with a score of 14-7.  

Game 3 of the series McPherson College jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the 1st inning.  USW pitching held McPherson College to 1 run until the 4th inning.  McPherson had a big inning in the 6th inning scoring 6 runs to give them a total of 8 for the game.  USW's offense mounted a comeback and made the game close scoring in four of the seven innings.  The offense was led by Hayden Woods and Santiago Garcia each having 2 RBI for the game.  Mason Musgrave got his first start as a Mustang and pitched 4 and 1/3 innings giving up 2 earned runs on 4 hits and had 6 strikeouts.  Unfortunately, the McPherson offense was too much for the bullpen and the McPherson Bulldogs won game three with a score of 8-6.  

Game 4 was a very exciting high-scoring game.  USW took an early 6-0 lead after the 2nd inning.  Brian Ledezma went 3-4 with two RBI to help keep the USW offense.  Kevin Rase and Carlos Jaquez both helped as well with both going 2-3 with 2 RBI each.  Kobe Carpio started the game on the mound pitched 3.2 innings giving up 6 earned runs with 4 strikeouts.  The Bullpen kept things close as the McPherson offense mounted a comeback and took the lead in the 5th inning with a 10-7 lead.  The Mustang offense scored 4 runs in the 6th inning to take the lead, and Caden Davis got his first save of the year closing out the game in the 7th inning.  The Mustangs won 3 out of 4 games in the series to start the season 3-1.  

The Mustang's play next Friday in a doubleheader and Saturday in a doubleheader with games starting at 12:00pm on both days.  Coach Appel had this to say about the play of the Mustangs. 
 
"I think our guys played well and battled all weekend long against a really good McPherson ball club. We had some nice big offensive innings, great defense, and enough pitching to hold off a great offensive team. I always feel confident when our guys play this well defensively and show up with the energy, they had all weekend long. We were able to get out of some tough jams early in the weekend and that gave us some offensive momentum to secure the first two games. In the second day, we learned that we have to throw more strikes and we learned that we have to play until the final out is made."
 
 
"Overall, I am happy with how the weekend went, however, we know it's a long year and cannot be satisfied with just one weekend. Our schedule is tougher this year and we know we will need to refocus and get back to work Monday to prepare for this upcoming weekend. We must take advantage of all the home games we can because it's a tough place for visitors to play. I really thought our crowd was awesome and I hope they can continue to watch some really good baseball throughout the year."