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LeTourneau University Athletics

Baseball

Yates' Two Bombs Lead Jackets to Series Win Over ETBU

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

LONGVIEW - Two home runs from freshman Dillon Yates in the first game of a doubleheader led the Jackets to a 6-4 win in seven innings to clinch the series over rivals East Texas Baptist. The Tigers responded in the second game, taking a 6-3 win in the final game of the series.

East Texas Baptist (14-14, 5-4 ASC) got the scoring started in the bottom of the first by scratching a run across on a sacrifice fly. Yates led off the top of the second with a huge bomb over the left field fence to tie things up at one.

The Jackets (15-11, 5-7 ASC) were not done there as senior Brent Sellers reached on a walk, junior Dustin Varnado reached on a hit by pitch, and senior Rhett Bohannon reached on a walk. Junior Bryce Griffin stepped up and singled to left to score two and give the Jackets a 3-1 lead. Junior Garrett Methvin followed that up with a RBI single to make it 4-1.

Sophomore Cody Whitley kept the Tigers in check and junior Chris Bertram led the third inning off with a single. Yates came to the plate and blasted his second home run of the day, this time to left center for a 6-1 lead.

It was all Whitley needed despite a three run inning by ETBU in the fourth. Whitley was strong and closed the game out to improve to 5-3, pitching a complete game while only allowing three earned runs and striking out six.  

Yates was terrific, going 3-for-4 with the pair of homers and three RBIs. Sophomore Ryan Bertram added a 2-for-4 day while every Jacket came away with a base hit in the seven inning contest.

In the second game, a throwing error from ETBU's catcher in the first and a sacrifice fly from Varnado in the second gave the Jackets a 2-0 advantage. However, the Tigers tied it in bottom half of the second and took the lead on a home run in the fifth. 

LeTourneau got a run back in the eighth to make it a 4-3 game thanks to a RBI from R. Bertram, but a two run blast in the bottom of the eighth by the Tigers put the game out of reach.

Freshman Josh Gimre took the loss, despite pitching six innings and only allowing two earned runs while striking out three. Sophomore Caleb Pritchett pitched 1.1 innings and struck out two while junior Jordan Price pitch 0.2 innings and only allowing one hit.

Griffin led the way with a 2-for-4 day with a pair of runs scored while Bohannon was 2-for-5. Junior Chris Bertram was 1-for-1 with a run scored while junior Matt Leftwich was 1-for-1 with a stand up double.

The Jackets will return to action on Tuesday as they hit the road to take on the Austin College 'Roos. First pitch will be set for 6 p.m. with Live Stats provided by AC's Sports Information Department.

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