The LeTourneau University baseball team split a doubleheader with Howard Payne University to end the crucial American Southwest Conference series.
 
LeTourneau (10-9, 8-6 ASC) won the nightcap, 5-4 and dropped game one, 1-0 to the visitors from Brownwood, who are now 12-15 overall and 7-13 in the American Southwest Conference.
 
Game 1
A pickoff move by Kyle Ramon of HPU picked off a game-tying run in the bottom of the ninth to preserve a 1-0 shutout. Howard Payne got the only run of the contest in the fifth inning. HPU starting pitcher Jacob Spivey went 6.1 innings, striking out two and giving up just a single to Sean Sellers to start the bottom of the first in the win. With the win, Spivey improves to 2-5 and Ramon picked up his 5^th save of the season.
 
Howard Payne (12-14, 7-12 ASC) started the fifth with a Joshua Martinez single to left field. Then, he moved to second on an sacrifice bunt by Walker Dailey for the first out of the inning. Then, after a fly out, John Elmore drove in Martinez from second for the 1-0 lead.  

LETU mounted a threat in its half of the fifth inning. Back-to-back walks by Brandon Applewhite and Kyle Jacobs put runners on first and second to start the inning. Then the Howard Payne defense, got the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt. Spivey ended the threat with a strikeout and a pop out to keep LETU off the scoreboard.
 
Again, LETU had a chance to tie it in the seventh. Dillon Yates reached on an error to start the inning. Then, Quinn Brankin moved Yates to second with a sacrifice bunt; next veteran MLB player and HPU assistant coach Jerry Don Gleaton called on Ramon to close the game.  Next, Kyle Jacobs advanced pinch runner Dylan Wadyko (pictured) to third on a ground out. Ramon appeared to have ended the game with a strikeout, but the ball got away from the HPU catcher, allowing Jon Lewis to reach first and move Wadkyo to third. With runners on the corners, Ramon picked off Lewis at first to end the game.
 
LeTourneau starting pitcher Cody Whitley went the distance allowing six hits and striking out 10 in the loss to fall to 1-4.
 
Game 2
LeTourneau took the nightcap from Howard Payne, 6-5. With the win, LETU had 10 hits, including two each from David Perkins, Dylan Wadyko and Bryce Henry in the win. LETU starter Jordan Carns pitched 7.0 innings, struck out five and allowed three runs – one earned – to raise his record to 3-1. Josh Gimre pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save.
 
Howard Payne had 11 hits, including two from Cody Brown and Cody Cain in the loss. Shawn Brody, in relief of starter Zach Moseley, went 5.1 innings, allowing six hits, two runs – all earned and struck out four in the loss to fall to 2-2.
 
After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, LeTourneau took its first lead of the weekend with a three-run second inning. One of the three hits was an RBI single by Wadyko. Howard Payne tied it in the fifth with two runs and three hits.
 
Alert base running allowed LeTourneau to regain the lead in its half of the fifth. With one out, Sean Sellers was hit by a pitch and Ryan Bertram singled through the left side to put runners on first and second. Then, a fielder's choice by Taylor Empkey put runners on the corners for Dillon Yates. Then, Empkey attempted to steal second, which initiated a rundown and an alert Sellers scored from third during the run down to give LETU a 4-3 lead.
 
LeTourneau added to its lead in the sixth on another RBI single by Wadyko to stretch the lead to 5-3 and another insurance run in the eighth on a RBI sacrifice fly by Sellers for 6-3. Howard Payne scored a pair in the ninth, but Gimre got a ground out to end the game and preserve the victory.
 
Next, LeTourneau will host Centenary in a non-conference game on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Conrad-Vernon Field. As part of the NCAA Division III week, there will be free hot dogs available for fans.