Game Recap By Mason Nesbitt, TMU Sports Information Director

It was the definition of horseplay.

As Aaron Shackelford (pictured above) conducted an on-camera interview following Thursday’s 15-4 home win over Bethesda, a host of Mustangs paraded through the background.

Robert Winslow, who struck out eight of the first nine batters he faced and improved to 8-1, peered over Shackelford’s shoulder. Junior Ryan Bricker rode piggyback through the frame, waving an invisible lasso overhead. Third baseman Kameron Quitno sailed past in a canoe, his bat serving as an oar.

The scene was fitting, as plenty of players had a hand in TMU’s 12th straight win (improving its record to 24-9-1 and marking its longest winning streak since 2015), but Shackelford’s home run was in the foreground.

The senior shortstop demolished a breaking ball in the fourth inning, lifting a towering shot over the right-field fence. It was his 19th blast of the season, tying him for the NAIA and team lead.

Both Shackelford and teammate Anthony Lepre have now matched TMU’s single-season home run record set by Eric Blackwell in 2009. Blackwell, though, needed 222 at-bats to do it.

Shackelford, who also became TMU’s all-time RBI leader Thursday with 188, and Lepre each required fewer than 130 at-bats, and with 14 regular season games remaining, the stage is set for a fantastic finish – one that coach Monte Brooks found reminiscent of the 1961 race between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris to break Babe Ruth’s record of 60 home runs.

“I would even equate it in our day with the home run race between (St. Louis Cardinals great) Mark McGwire and (Chicago Cubs great) Sammy Sosa,” said Brooks. “And Anthony and Shack are both so unselfish. They both want each other to succeed, and to be tied like that, it’s really remarkable.”

The word applied to Winslow through three perfect innings Thursday, as the senior righty pounded the strike zone with a fastball that hovered in the low 90s.

He punched out the first six batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit until Cody Viena doubled to center in the fourth inning.

Winslow left after five due to a high pitch count, finishing with 11 strikeouts and two walks. He surrendered three runs on four hits.

“You saw at times he was really smooth, knee high, just looked big league,” Brooks said.

The timing couldn’t have been better as a handful of major league scouts settled into the bleachers at first pitch, radar guns ready.

Winslow showed them a healthy dose of fastballs.

“They weren’t really hitting the fastball in the first few innings, so I figured I might as well stay with it,” Winslow said. “I started going to the slider a little bit as an outpitch but mostly stayed with my fastball.”

By the time Shackelford left the yard, the Mustangs had already built a comfortable cushion. In truth, Brooks was pleased to have the day’s only home run factor little into the outcome.

He knows that down the stretch his team will have to win a game without the benefit of the longball, something the Mustangs have leaned on heavily through 34 games.

Brooks has been encouraged that twice recently the Mustangs have put up 16 and 15 runs, respectively, in games Master’s has managed to hit only one home run.

“We have to win games without a jack,” he said.

Master’s used six singles, four in a row at one point, and two Bethesda errors to put six runs on the board in the second inning. Will Batz continued to play well, opening the scoring with an RBI single in the second and coming around to score after stealing two bags. He added a ground-rule double in the sixth.

Batz, Shackleford, Max Maitland, Byron Smith and Ryan Bricker all recorded multi-hit games. Bricker went 3-for-3 as part of a stellar effort from the bottom of TMU’s order.

TMU’s seven-eight-nine hitters – Kameron Quitno, Smith and Bricker – went a combined 6-for-7 with six runs scored and three RBIs.

“I love how we came out of the chute and swung it really well,” Brooks said. “Our bottom half guys had some really good at-bats today.”