FORT WORTH, TX - Last season, newcomer Jeddediah Fagg made the impact on opening day, hitting two home runs in two victories. On Friday during a beautiful day at the new-and-improved field at Sycamore Park, Joaquin Ballesteros made his mark on opening day with a home run and a walk-off double that helped No. 17 Texas Wesleyan (1-1) split the first two games of the 2020 season with Friends University (1-1), 3-2 and 5-6.

"Today we saw some good things and things we need to continue to work on," commented Head coach Bobby Garza. "Our pitching staff did a great job of keeping us in both games. 
Kevin Santiago and Joaquin Ballesteros had some really good at bats today as well. Tanner Amaral and Mark Schreiner controlled the running game really well. They did a great job of blocking balls all day long."

Ballesteros finished 4-for-8 at the plate with 3 RBI. The transfer from New Mexico Junior College played left field and hit second in the lineup, a much different hitting lineup from a 2019 campaign that brought the Rams back to the NAIA Tournament. 

Division I Sam Houston State transfer Gabriel Sequeira started the first game on the mound and his confidence boomed to the tune of nine strikeouts against 18 batters, giving up just three hits. In a 2-2 game, Ian Nash came in for 0.1 innings and scooped up a win on Ballesteros' double. Josh Brown got the 1.2 innings in between, expected to be one of the teams' top pitchers on the 2020 staff. Jalen Evans struck out four and Noah Lynch struck out three in Game 2.

While the Rams may not have won both games, at least both battles were tightly contested. The largest lead for either team was two, a 3-1 lead for Friends in Game 2 which was quickly wiped away by Ballesteros' two-run homer. His home run followed Tanner Amaral's, who snuck one over the fence and underneath the new scoreboard in left field, tying the second meeting at one in the bottom of the second. Amaral had five home runs in 2019, none against Friends, but did go 3-of-5 at the plate against the Falcons last campaign.

TXWES trailed 2-1 with two outs in the bottom of the fourth of Game 1 when second baseman Josh Davis singled through the left side scoring Michael Higgins. Higgins came in for Amaral earlier in the inning who was struck by a pitch and later in the frame stole third to place himself in scoring position. The winning run was scored three innings later by Brooks Wallace - who was walked with one out at the time - on Ballesteros double with two outs showing on the board. 

Down 5-4 in the sixth of Game 2, Amaral again reached base after being hit by a pitch. That's when Trey Smith doubled to left-center scoring the run. After Friends re-gained the lead 6-5, the Rams hit a pair of singles with two outs in the 7th, but couldn't get another run to force extra innings or better yet, finish the day with two different game-winning plays.

Texas Wesleyan is just getting started. Texas College will be in town over the weekend to face Friends Saturday at noon and the Rams Sunday at noon for a pair of doubleheaders. 22 of the Rams' 29 non-conference games are at home in 2020.