By Mason Nesbitt, Sports Information Director
For Master’s to be successful in 2019, a certain group of players will have to produce at a high level.

Robert Winslow and Aaron Shackelford fall into that category. And on cue Friday, with the Mustangs needing a win after dropping the day’s opener, both seniors put their fingerprints firmly on game two’s outcome.

Winslow pitched six stellar innings and Shackelford connected on a two-run homer in the fifth inning of a 4-1 win over Marymount California University, which ran away with the day’s first game, 8-2.

The nightcap belonged to Winslow from the beginning. The 6-foot-5 right-hander struck out nine, walked one and allowed four hits. He surrendered one run and completed his task in 90 pitches.

Watching from shortstop, Shackelford was pleased to see Winslow looking confident this early in the season.

“It was so good to see him pitch,” said Shackelford. “He was dominant from start to finish.”

Winslow leaned on his fastball and slider, retiring eight of the last nine batters he faced before giving way to sophomore Caleb Jaime, who struck out the side on 10 pitches for the one-inning save.

The Mustangs improved to 1-1-1 on the year and will host No. 7 University of Antelope Valley on Thursday and Friday next week at TMU.

Master’s will enter the highly-anticipated series on a high note, in part, because of Shackelford’s blast.

With Master’s leading 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Max Maitland hooked a double to right field, bringing the Mustangs’ home run leader from a year ago to the plate.

Shackelford hit two doubles, one off the wall, in Wednesday’s 11-inning tie with Marymount. In Saturday’s second game, he launched the ball onto Quigley Canyon Road.

His approach was simple: The defense was drawn in after a balk moved Maitland to third, and Shackelford’s job with no outs was to lift something into the air. Instead, he drilled what Winslow called “a tank.”

“He got all of it,” said Winslow.

Believing the ball would stay in the park, Shackelford sprinted for second. Once he watched it go, he could slow down.

“I was surprised,” he said. Anyone who follows Master’s baseball was not.

Shackelford is now two home runs shy of matching the program’s all-time record (34).

On this day, his focus was on turning things around after a disappointing game in the morning.

“In the first game we weren’t as tough at the plate as we should have been,” said Shackelford, referencing nine strikeouts and a number of pop outs.

Kyle Cringan pitched six innings of one-run ball in relief for the win, striking out six and walking none.

The effort was reminiscent of the number Marymount’s Ray Diaz did on the Mustangs Wednesday, when Diaz went 7 2/3 strong and the teams played to a 2-2 tie.

Master’s had nine hits in this one, but only Maitland’s double went for extra bases.

Moises Garcia, who transferred to Marymount from Master’s before this season, hit three home runs in the game, the last bouncing off the roof of TMU’s club house in left field. Garcia had six of the Mariners’ eight RBIs.
The Mustangs answered with their ace in the second game.

Winslow retired eight of the first 10 batters he faced before the Mariners got to him for a run in the fourth.

“That’s the most polished, most fundamental he’s ever been,” said TMU coach Monte Brooks. “These last couple months, walking through the mechanics, looking at video, understanding how to repeat, that’s the best he’s been (in terms of those things).”

Byron Smith started at catcher for TMU and went 2-for-3. Maitland hit safely in all three games of the series, moving past Kurt Fillmore for eighth on the program’s all-time hits list with 211.

Chris Talley is seventh on the list with 215.