The Mustangs faced a difficult schedule this past week with a final game against North Texas and a three-game series against Baylor. While the Mustangs were unable to secure a win in any game, the team did prove its ability to come back from extreme run differences and proved why it can be a top contender in the National Club Baseball Association.
“We knew the games were going to be tough. Baylor and UNT were both good teams; we just had a lot of mistakes,” said infielder Shawn Flynn.
In the first game against Baylor, the Mustangs found themselves down to the Bears 0-12 in the first inning. The score remained 17-0 through the fifth until Ryan Yarbrough and David Thompson each brought in a run.
The Mustangs put up a fight in the sixth with runs from Yarbrough and David Thompson again, along with runs from captain Sandy Thompson, Perry McKnight, Flynn, Ryan Davis, Mac Ruderer and Jon Hicks.
“We had a good run going at one point, but we just couldn’t keep it up,” said Flynn. Baylor proved to be too much for SMU though, and scored two more runs in the sixth inning, making the final score 10-19.
“When our bats are hot and we play steady defense we can beat anybody, we have just had problems getting everything going at once,” Sandy Thompson said.
After some adjustments to the lineup, and Wade Muldoon at pitcher, the Mustangs came out for game two ready to redeem themselves. The team held Baylor to one run during the first inning, but gave up four runs in the second inning, allowing the Bears to get ahead 0-5. Flynn brought the team back into the game with a run in the second inning. The Mustangs held the Bears to five runs while Yarbrough and Flynn, again, raised the score to 3-5. However, the Mustang defense could not compare to the Bears again, and SMU lost again 12-3.
Kara Maiella, the team manager, explained, “While fielding errors will be remedied, the more time we can get [the team] playing and practicing on real fields, they show improvements all the time. I couldn’t be more proud of the way this team has come together and represented SMU so far. They devote so much of their time to the team and the sport.”
On Sunday, the team returned to face Baylor in the third and final game of the series. Well rested and ready for a win, the team came out strong and led 4-2 in the first inning. Ruderer, David Thompson, Sandy Thompson and Saahil Douhania put the Mustangs up for the first time with each player bringing in a run. However, the team could not hold it together, and the Bears got 14 runs off the Mustangs, making the final score 4-14.
“The scores don’t really reflect the kind of playing these guys did. There were great innings, at-bats and pitching outings and a few bad innings put a damper on that. We could hang with Baylor, and that was a testament to the talent of our players,” elaborated Maiella.
The Mustangs will travel to Lubbock to play Texas Tech this weekend in another three-game series.
