BELTON, Texas - A two out double by senior
Gonzalo Sosa gave the LeTourneau University baseball team a 6-5 lead before hanging on to defeat the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in game one of a three-game series at Red Murff Field in Belton, Texas on Friday, March 16th.
LETU improves to 12-8 overall and 5-2 in the American Southwest Conference with the win while the Crusaders dropped to 6-12 overall and 3-4 in conference play.
The YellowJackets would trail for a total of just two innings in the game, taking a 1-0 lead after the first inning on a
Noah Mahoney RBI double and holding onto the lead until a two-run third inning by UMHB put the Cru up 2-1. LeTourneau would respond with a pair of runs in the fifth with a
Lee Hosie RBI triple which would be followed up by a
Bubba Valdez RBI single before tacking on runs in the sixth and eighth innings to take a 5-2 lead in the later stages of the game. Mary Hardin-Baylor scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game at 5-5, with the outcome of the game still very much in the balance heading into the ninth.
LETU would make the most of their opportunity in the top of the ninth as Mahoney would draw a one-out walk before seeing
Will Bradshaw strikeout to leave the YellowJackets down to their last out offensively. Sosa found the pitch he was looking for on a 3-2 count, hitting an RBI double down into the left field corner which would bring Mahoney around from first and reclaim the lead. UMHB wasted no time putting the game-tying run aboard after earning a leadoff walk, moving the runner to second on a sacrifice bunt. A strikeout looking would be followed by a strikeout swinging to slam the door shut and secure LETU's first victory over the Cru since 2015.
Playing the role of dual threat, Valdez had three hits and one RBI at the plate while earning his first save on the mound after coming in to pitch with the game-tying run on first in the bottom of the ninth. Senior
Carson Dickey led the YellowJackets with a perfect four-for-four performance and drove in one run while also scoring one run as all six RBI's came from different players for LeTourneau. Stranding runners would be an issue for LETU throughout the night, leaving 10 runners on base while the Crusaders would strand 10 runners of their own.
On the mound for LeTourneau, starter
Luke Ludwig would go the first 5.1 innings and allow two runs on six hits while striking out five before
Ryder Lognion would come in and get the YellowJackets out of a sixth-inning jam. Lognion tossed one and two-thirds hitless innings before LETU turned to
Kolton Eberlan who would toss 0.2 innings, facing a total of six batters.
Bryce Brueggemeyer (2-2) earned the victory after coming in with two outs in the eighth-inning, stranding a go-ahead runner for UMHB at second while facing just two batters.
LeTourneau can win the season series over Mary Hardin-Baylor tomorrow by winning just once in a doubleheader to close out the weekend. The start time for the doubleheader has been pushed up to 11 a.m. to try and avoid potential weather-related issues that are expected to arise later in the day. Game one on Saturday will feature a seven-inning game which will be followed by a nine-inning game 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.
