LONGVIEW, Texas – Having to battle back from two late-inning deficits, the LeTourneau University baseball team waited out a 25-minute delay due to an issue with the field lights before walking off with a 5-4 victory over the University of the Ozarks at Conrad-Vernon Field in Longview, Texas on Friday, March 30th.
 
LETU improves to 14-10 overall and 6-4 in the American Southwest Conference with three of the six wins coming in ASC series opening games. The Eagles dropped their second straight game to fall to 13-11 overall and 8-5 in conference.
 
A dominant pitching performance appeared to be headline of the night in the early stages of the game, with just one run being scored in the first six innings of the game before seeing rallies in the final three innings of regulation set up for the extra-innings fireworks. The YellowJackets drew first blood in the bottom of the third with Eli Birriel leading off the inning with an infield single before Lee Hosie would get on via a hit-by-pitch. Following a Bubba Valdez sacrifice bunt, Will Bradshaw came through with an RBI single to give LeTourneau a 1-0 lead heading to the fourth.
 
The 1-0 lead was all that LETU starting pitcher Luke Ludwig needed early on, holding the Eagles to just three hits in the first six innings of work. A season-high nine strikeouts by Ludwig saw the sophomore strike out the side in the sixth, but get into trouble in the seventh as UO finally found a way to get on the scoreboard by putting up two runs on three hits to take a 2-1 lead.
 
LeTourneau would be unable to respond with any offense of their own in the bottom half of the seventh, but find a way to push across the game-tying run in the bottom of the eighth following a pitching change by Ozarks to start the inning. Bradshaw took advantage of a wild pitch on a swinging third strike to reach base and advance to second on a sacrifice bunt before moving to third on another wild pitch. Brandon Ramirez then drove in the junior to put the score at 2-2 and two aboard, but LETU wound up leaving the bases loaded as two strikeouts ended the YellowJacket threat.
 
Ozarks saw their own opportunity go empty in the top of the ninth, loading the bases with two outs before Valdez moved over to pitcher and got out of the jam with a fly out to right field. A leadoff single for Hosie in the bottom of the ninth would wind up going wasted as LeTourneau would be unable to end the game in regulation, sending the game to extra-innings for the first-time this season.
 
The Eagles would manage to string together three hits in the first four at-bats of the inning to load the bases with one out, and take advantage of a throwing error to score two runs and grab a 4-2 lead in the top of the 10th. Needing two runs to extend the game, LETU put together a four-hit 10th inning with three-straight singles followed by a balk, but saw the inning end with the bases loaded for the second time on the night and a second-straight opportunity to end the game go squandered.
 
No true threat materialized by UO in the top of the 11th, sending things to the bottom of the 11th which would see the lights to the field go out just prior to the first-pitch of the inning. A 25-minute delay ensued as the teams would have to wait for the issue to be corrected, with play resuming and Bradshaw coming up to bat. After taking the first pitch for a ball, Bradshaw crushed a 1-0 pitch into left center field that would leave the park for a walk-off home run to give the YellowJackets a 5-4 victory.
 
Junior Nate Hoelker picked up his team-leading fourth win of the year, throwing one complete inning and striking out one batter. Ludwig went 6.1 innings and allowed just two runs on six hits while Ryder Lognion (2.1 innings) and Valdez (1.1 innings) combined to allow two runs on four hits while striking out one.
 
Gonzalo Sosa led LETU with a three-for-five performance at the plate with one RBI while Bradshaw drove in a team-high two runs in addition to collecting two hits and scoring twice. Ramirez and Carson Dickey also recorded two hits each in the game, despite LeTourneau stranding 14 runners.
 
LETU and Ozarks will be the only action among ASC schools tomorrow, with a doubleheader set for 1 p.m. at Conrad-Vernon Field in Longview. Game one will feature a seven-inning game before a nine-inning game takes place in game two.