ALPINE, Texas – Trying to force a decisive winner-take-all game in the 2018 American Southwest Conference Tournament "Red Bracket", the LeTourneau University baseball team could not overcome Texas-Dallas in a 10-2 defeat at Kokernot Field in Alpine, Texas on Sunday, May 6th.
Senior
Gonzalo Sosa along with juniors
Noah Mahoney,
Jacob Jones, and sophomore
Will Bradshaw were named to the All-Tournament team for their performances throughout the weekend.
With the loss, LETU ends their season at 23-19 overall while the Comets finished a perfect 3-0 in the "Red Bracket" to improve to next week's ASC Championship Series "Gold Bracket".
The YellowJackets knew going in that they would need run support heading into their fourth game in three days, but would be unable to muster any offense through three innings of play. LETU matched the defensive intensity of Texas-Dallas however, limiting the Comets to just two hits in three innings of play to keep things a scoreless deadlock.
Bradshaw didn't wait very long in his second at-bat to start off the top of the fourth, taking a 1-1 pitch and depositing the ball over the left field wall to give LeTourneau a 1-0 lead. The lead would be short lived however as the Comets would take advantage of four one-out hits along with an error and two walks to claim a 5-1 lead going to the fifth.
Another scoring drought would ensue for both teams with the score remaining a 5-1 deficit for the YellowJackets until the top of the seventh when a hit batter, single, error, and walk brought home LETU's second run of the game to get back within three at 5-2. LeTourneau would be unable to capitalize with the bases remaining loaded however, seeing a strikeout end the inning with the game-tying run on first.
UTD added another two runs in the bottom of the seventh to extend their lead to 7-2, and added another three runs in the bottom of the eighth after holding LETU to just a one-out single in the top of the inning. Trailing by eight, LeTourneau would put the leadoff batter aboard in the top of the ninth but see a double play erase the runner. A Mahoney double extended the game briefly before a groundout would end the 2018 campaign for LETU.
Playing in his final collegiate game, Sosa took the loss on the mound after throwing 3.1 innings and striking out two while giving up five runs on five hits.
Ryder Lognion also pitched 3.1 innings and struck out three, while
Kolton Eberlan (one inning) and
Bubba Valdez (0.1 innings) also threw in relief.
LeTourneau's two runs came on just six hits, with Bradshaw and Mahoney each recording two while Dickey and Sosa had one each. The YellowJackets stranded six runners in the game, and were caught stealing once.
