LONGVIEW - The LeTourneau YellowJacket baseball team opened the home season up at Conrad-Vernon Field on Tuesday evening as they welcomed in the Texas-Tyler Patriots in non-conference action. The Jackets left 12 runners on base as they couldn't come through with more than one run on this night, falling to the Patriots 4-1.

After sophomore Cody Whitley put the Patriots down in order in the first, senior Rhett Bohannon and junior Bryce Griffin each walked to start the bottom half. After a double play, freshman Dillon Yates and junior Chris Bertram also drew walks to load up the bases. Junior Garrett Methvin strolled to the plate and blasted a ball deep to right field, but not quite deep enough as it was caught at the warning track to keep the game scoreless.

The Patriots (5-2) responded with a pair of doubles in the second to take a 1-0 lead. 

LeTourneau (3-1) got runners on base again, this time getting runners on first and second wtih two outs, but again could not make anything out of the opportunity.

Texas-Tyler struck for one in the fourth and two in the sixth to extend its lead to 4-0. The Jackets continued to get runners on base, but could not put anything together to bring them home.

The Jackets looked to make something happen in the ninth as senior Brent Sellers doubled down the left field line followed by a one out double from Griffin to get the first run on the board. However, that is as far as the inning went as a ground out and fly out ended the game.

Whitley got the start and took the loss despite pitching two innings, only allowing one run, and striking out two. Sophomore Ben Boles and freshman Josh Gimre both appeared and struck out three each while junior Curt Copeland threw two innings of scoreless ball while striking out two batters.

Bohannon led the offense, going 2-for-3 with a walk while Griffin, Methvin, and Sellers all went 1-for-4. The Jackets were patient at the plate, forcing seven walks and were hit by pitches two times. They got a runner on base in every inning except the third, but were unable to cash in on any opportunities.

Despite the two teams being ASC East rivals, this game did not count towards the ASC standings. 

LeTourneau will open up ASC play this weekend as they travel to Kerrville, Texas to take on Schreiner University in a crossover weekend series. Game One will take place on Friday as 2 p.m. with Game Two and Game Three taking place in a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 12 p.m. Check letuathletics.com for up-to-date information and postgame coverage on the upcoming games.