The Westerners (1-13) took El Paso, which is 7-1 in conference play, to the wire in the opening game of the series Friday, leading 3-1 after the top of the sixth.
El Paso rallied to take a 5-3 lead after six, before WTC tied it up in the top of the seventh.
Though the team eventually lost, 6-5, Hefflinger said the program gained a lot of respect from El Paso, especially the way the team challenged the conference leaders on the base paths.
Hefflinger said El Paso responded by playing more aggressively on Saturday, a sign that that home team was not taking WTC lightly after the close call in the opener.
“El Paso is just flat out good,” he said. “Physically, they are unreal. I think it was a turning point for our program -- on Saturday they went for the kill. They knew if we stayed in it, we would make it a game.”
Hefflinger said the Westerners, which lost the final three games by scores of 12-2, 13-0 and 17-6, need to feel a couple of wins to get some momentum started.
He said the team again had plenty of runners in scoring position, but could not find a way to plate them.
“We’re hitting about .300 as a team and our strike outs have gone down,” he said. “We have scored 53 runs, but we’ve stolen 30 bags. We’re getting guys in scoring position.”
Today’s scheduled game with Hardin-Simmons is postponed due to rain, and the team will get back into action this weekend against Howard College in Big Spring with a four-game set starting at noon Friday.
Hefflinger said the team has plenty of time and opportunity to right the ship.
“It’s actually good that it worked out this way. Now El Paso comes to us in the second half, and we won’t be traveling as much,” he said. “The guys are working hard, we just have to get a couple of wins under our belt. If we could have won games when we were ahead late in the game, we could have five or six wins right now, easily.”