The LeTourneau University baseball team hosted Sul Ross State in a rare tripleheader on Monday at QuikTrip Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.
 
Due to weather conditions in Longview, the two coaches agreed to move the series to QuikTrip Park, which has a synthetic-turf field surface. The 5,445-seat stadium is the host to the Grand Prairie AirHogs, who are an independent minor league baseball and has been the host to the WAC Baseball and NJCAA Region V Baseball Tournament in 2013.  
 
LeTourneau won the first game, 2-1 in 12 innings and the third game, 10-1 in a nine-inning contest. Sul Ross State took the middle game of the tripleheader, 4-1 in a seven-inning contest.
 
In game one, LeTourneau plated the winning run when Quinn Brankin successfully executed a suicide squeeze bunt. Earlier in the inning, Ryan Bertram reached on an infield single. Then, Dillon Yates moved Bertram to second with a sacrifice bunt for the first out of the inning. Next, a wild pitch by SRSU reliever Coleman Ramsey moved Bertram to third.
 
Then Brankin, who entered the game in the eighth in replace of David Perkins, came to the plate for his second at bat of the game. With a 1-0 count, the junior laid down a bunt down the first-base line to score a hustling Bertam for the game-winning run.

LeTourneau starting pitcher Justin Jenkins went all 12 innings, scattering eight hits and one run (earned) and struck out seven for the win to improve to 4-3.
 
In the second game of the tripleheader, Sul Ross State scored four unanswered runs after an early 1-0 lead. Three of the runs came in the fourth inning, two of which came in on a Turner Mattson single. L
 
LeTourneau plated its only run in the second inning on a RBI single by Bryce Henry.  The YellowJackets' had seven hits in the loss including a pair from Henry. LETU starter Jordan Carns went the distance to fall to 3-3, allowing eight hits and four runs (one earned).
 
In the third game, it was an offensive explosion that secured the series for the YellowJackets and dominant pitching from senior Cody Whitley. LeTourneau pounded out 13 hits in the win. The 13 hits are the second most by LETU in a game in 2015, earlier this year they had 14 hits in a win over Hardin-Simmons on March 8.
 
Five-different YellowJackets – Taylor Empkey, Ryan Bertram, David Perkins, Jon Lewis and Bryce Henry – each had two hits in the win. Henry drove in four, plus Empkey and Sean Sellers each drove in a pair.
 
Whitley pitched 7.2 innings, allowing four hits, a run (unearned) and struck out six in the win to improve 2-5 on the season. Relievers Christian Baker and Josh Gimre pitched the final 1.1 inning, allowing just one hit to close out the contest.
 
The YellowJackets will next take to the road for a crucial three-game series at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. The series gets underway on Friday night at 7 p.m.