LeTourneau baseball bounced back from a 6-2 series opening loss to split the Saturday doubleheader with an 8-7 victory over University of Dallas.
In game one, the YellowJackets got on the board first with a
Noah Mahoney solo homerun in the bottom of the second inning. UD responded with two runs in the top of the third inning to take a 2-1 lead.
Carson Dickey snagged an RBI with a single that scored
Jacob Faubion in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game at two runs apiece.
The LeTourneau bats would go cold in the remaining four innings as they couldn't respond to the Crusaders four runs and dropped the series opener.
Jordan Carns falls to 1-7 on the season after five innings on the mound for the YellowJackets. Carns gave up three earned runs on six hits while striking out two.
In game two, the LeTourneau bats woke in the fifth inning as the YellowJackets score four runs.
Kyle Jacobs ignited the offense with a double down the left field line to score
Zach Cochran who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning.
Noah Mahoney followed with an RBI to tie the game at 3-3.
Sophomore
Ryan Conger picked an opportune time for his first career homerun as he sent a 2-run shot over the fence to push LeTourneau over the top 5-3.
After Dallas tied the game at five runs apiece,
Jacob Faubion singled and Cochran doubled to put themselves in scoring position. Faubion would score on a passed ball to push the lead to 6-5 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The YellowJackets would load the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning and set up Faubion for a sacrifice hit to bring home Conger. A Crusader error would allow senior
Jacob Simmons to score and extend the lead to 8-5.
LeTourneau would allow two runs to score in the top of the ninth inning but
Kyle Buchanan earned his second save of the season as he clinched the win with a game-ending strikeout.
Andrew Harlan tied a career-high with seven strikeouts in his eight-inning effort on the mound. Harlan moves to 2-4 on the season after forcing 10 ground outs and six fly outs.
The rubber match will be Sunday morning with first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m. due to inclement weather coming into the Longview area.