LONGVIEW – Garrett Methvin and Logan Smith both knocked home runs as the LeTourneau YellowJackets defeated the University of Dallas 13-5 in the second game of a twinbill Saturday to salvage a doubleheader split.
The Crusaders won the first game 5-0 behind a seven-inning, complete-game performance from Phil Carkhuff, who allowed only two hits and struck out 10 batters.
Methvin (Longview, Texas/Arkansas) belted his third home run of the season and his second in two days when he knocked a two-run blast deep over the right-centerfield fence to score Smith. Methvin went 2-for-4 and drove in four runs.
Smith (Terrell, Texas/Terrell) gave the hometown crowd an early indication of his offensive performance when he led off the bottom of the first with a home run off Chris Schierhorn's second offering of the game.
The sophomore centerfielder played a key role in LeTourneau's offensive production in the Saturday finale, as he went 4-for-5 with two RBIs while scoring four runs himself.
Jeremy Burke (Cypress, Texas/Cy-Fair) improved his season record to 3-1 after picking up the victory in 4 1/3 innings of relief work. The 6-foot-5 sophomore righthander scattered four hits and struck out two while giving up two runs.
LeTourneau starter Travis Norris (Spring, Texas/Klein Oak) almost qualified for the victory but ran into a jam with two outs in the top of the fifth. He struck out three batters but walked seven en route to allowing three runs.
The YellowJackets' game one starter Barrett Calverley (Terrell, Texas/Terrell) went four innings and allowed only one earned run, but came away with the loss in Dallas' shutout win.
Needing a win to split the doubleheader, the YellowJackets (10-7) had answers for Dallas' bats in the early going as each team scored a run in the first and third innings.
The Jackets took their first lead of the day in the fourth thanks to some crafty strategy and extra effort on the basepaths. With runners on first and second base, Cam Hamilton (Nacogdoches, Texas/Nacogdoches) tapped a sacrifice bunt to move the Jackets to second and third base with one out.
The Crusaders then made a pitching change, but Andrew Laux had a less-than-ideal start as he uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Haydn Vaughn (Garland, Texas/Rowlett) to score and give the Jackets a 3-2 lead.
With Brent Sellers (Woodinville, Wash./Woodinville) on third base and still just one out, Travis Self (Houston, Texas/Cypress Ridge) produced one of the game's more memorable plays. Self tapped a perfect suicide squeeze bunt along the third base line, and then outran the throw to first for an RBI single.
With a 6-3 lead in hand heading into the bottom of the sixth, the YellowJackets created some breathing room as they quickly put runners on base before five consecutive LeTourneau hitters knocked RBIs to give the home team an 11-3 lead.
Hamilton, Dustin Varnado (Gilmer, Texas/Gilmer), Nate Tomaszewski (Dove Canyon, Calif./Tesoro) and Josh Francis (Henderson, Texas/Henderson) all recorded two base hits for the Jackets. Tomaszewski drove in two runs while Francis added an RBI and scored two runs.
The YellowJackets return to action Tuesday when they travel to Pineville, La. for single nine-inning contest against American Southwest Conference foe Louisiana College. The game, which is not part of the Jackets' conference schedule, will start at 6 p.m.
