LONGVIEW, Texas - The LeTourneau University baseball team would battle back from a 7-5 deficit to tie the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the seventh before seeing McMurry University score three runs in the top of the ninth to take a 10-7 victory over the YellowJackets at Conrad-Vernon Field on Saturday, March 10th.
LETU now sits at 10-7 overall and 4-2 in the American Southwest Conference, winning two out of three games to win their second consecutive ASC series. The War Hawks salvage one game out of the three-game series to improve to 5-11 overall and 1-5 in the ASC.
Each team would push across one run in the first inning, with MCM taking advantage of an infield single to take their first lead of the game before seeing LETU come back with a
Bubba Valdez RBI double down the right field line to score
Eli Birriel. LeTourneau would then manage to take their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth on a
Jacob Jones sacrifice fly to score
Carson Dickey, and then see
Will Bradshaw deliver a big two-run home run to give the YellowJackets a 4-1 lead heading to the fifth.
McMurry would waste no time cutting into the lead, scoring three runs in the top of the fifth to tie the game at four following a four-hit inning. Catcher
Noah Mahoney allowed for LETU to reclaim the lead for the final time in the bottom of the fifth inning, sending the second pitch he saw off the athletics field house in left center field for a solo home run which would give the YellowJackets a 5-4 lead, but a three-run sixth inning with just one hit would give McMurry their first lead since the first inning at 7-5.
Things would settle down until the bottom of the seventh when LETU would manage to plate two runs on four hits with a Mahoney RBI single and Dickey RBI single knotting the game up at 7-7 as LeTourneau would do all their damage in the inning with two outs.
The Warhawks would have one last push however, putting on four of their first five batters in the top of the ninth inning aboard which included a two-RBI double in the right center field gap which was then followed up by an RBI double to the left center field gap to put MCM up by a score of 10-7. No comeback would be in store for the YellowJackets in the bottom of the ninth, as LETU would muster only a one out walk.
A big problem for the YellowJackets in the game would be stranding runners, as LeTourneau left nine runners on base despite collecting 10 hits in the game. Valdez and Mahoney would lead the offensive attack with two hits each while Mahoney and Bradshaw each had two runs batted in. Junior
Brandon Ramirez would draw a team-high two walks on the afternoon, with LETU getting four free passes in all.
LeTourneau would use four pitchers total in the game with
Bryce Brueggemeyer getting the start and going 4.1 innings, allowing four runs (one earned) on seven hits.
Kolton Eberlan would come in relief of Brueggemeyer and toss 0.2 innings, allowing three runs despite not allowing any hits while
Haden Simmons (3.1 innings) and
Gonzalo Sosa (0.2 innings) would also see action on the mound.
The YellowJackets will return to action with non-conference action on Tuesday, March 13th at 2 p.m. with a pair of seven-innings games at Arlington Baptist University. Both games will be played at Air Hogs stadium, where LETU played their first three games of the year this season and went 2-1 overall.
