AUSTIN, Texas – Playing in their final road series of the regular-season, the LeTourneau University baseball team would find themselves on the wrong end of a 15-3 and 9-6 defeat to number 24-ranked Concordia University Texas at Tornado Field in Austin, Texas on Thursday, April 18th.
With four games remaining in the regular season, LETU finds themselves with a 20-16 overall record and 9-8 mark in the American Southwest Conference while the Tornadoes have now won five straight to improve to 26-9 overall and 12-5 in ASC play.
Game One:
The YellowJackets would get off to a slow start in the series opener as CTX would take a 1-0 lead after one inning of play before LETU would be able to take advantage of a
Noah Mahoney leadoff triple in the top of the second. Mahoney would be driven home by a sacrifice fly from
Jacob Jones as LeTourneau would threaten to take their first lead of the game when a fielding error allowed
Cody Lee to reach base and eventually move to third before being stranded along with
Eli Birriel.
An offensive explosion would then be seen from the Tornadoes as Concordia collected eight hits in the bottom of the second inning which included five-straight two-out hits to plate seven runs and take an 8-1 lead into the third inning. LETU would get a pair of runs back in the top of the third as a
Brandon Ramirez one-out single and
Bryce Brueggemeyer RBI triple drove in a run before Mahoney drove in another run on an RBI groundout.
The five-run CTX lead would be pushed back out to seven in the bottom of the third as the Tornadoes use a pair of RBI hits to match LeTourneau's scoring output in the inning to kill off any momentum the YellowJackets may have grabbed in the top half of the inning. Five more runs would be tacked on in the bottom of the fourth on two hits and one error for Concordia as the 15-3 lead would be good enough to hold with the final three innings of the game going hitless.
LETU's three runs would come on five hits and three walks as the YellowJackets would get a team-high two hits from Ramirez while the four, five, and six-hole hitters of Brueggemeyer, Mahoney, and Jones drove in one run each. LETU would end up stranding six runners and would not record a hit after the third inning of play.
Game Two:
Looking to bounce back in the night cap, LeTourneau would pick up a run in the top of the first inning on a
Kyle Guevara RBI single to go up 1-0 after one inning of play and double their lead thanks in part to a
Will Bradshaw RBI double to score
Lee Hosie in the top of the second.
A hit batter for the Tornadoes would lead to a run in the bottom of the third with an RBI single that would be cut down at second for the third out of the inning after a Concordia run would cross home plate. The score would remain a 2-1 LETU advantage until the top of the fifth when the YellowJackets would break out a five-hit inning with three of the first four batters of the inning collecting base hits. Following a Jones RBI single,
Mark Sanders would deliver with a two-RBI single to put LeTourneau up 5-1 at the midway point of the contest.
Concordia wouldn't wait long to get back into the game as the Tornadoes put up a three-spot of their own on three hits in the inning as all three hits would come at the start of the inning with a two-RBI single and balk bringing home the three runs. Following a scoreless sixth, the YellowJackets would add an insurance run in the top of the seventh as Bradshaw would deliver again by driving in Lee on an RBI single with two outs to make the score 6-4 which is where things would stay until the bottom of the eighth.
A leadoff walk would come in handy for the Tornadoes as an RBI groundout would drive in a run and cut the LETU down to a single-run at 6-5 and would be followed up by a one-two-three top of the ninth. Looking to close things out and split the first two games of the series, LeTourneau would allow a leadoff walk and bunt single to put the game-winning run aboard for Concordia before a sacrifice bunt would bring home a run and move the game-winning run 90 feet closer to home. LETU would then intentionally walk the next batter to set-up a double-play opportunity but get burned by a walk-off three-run home run to give CTX a stunning 9-6 victory.
Opportunities would be seen but not used by the YellowJackets as a 13-hit outing would be spoiled by 12 stranded runners as LeTourneau would leave the bases loaded twice. Bradshaw had LETU's only extra-base hit of the ball game and would be one of four LeTourneau batters with multiple hits while also driving in a team-best two RBI.
What's Next?
LETU will look to try and grab the final game of the series when the YellowJackets and Tornadoes meet back up for a 12 p.m. first pitch on Friday, April 19th. The game will mark the 10th game of the year that LeTourneau has faced off against a nationally-ranked team or a team that is receiving votes in the top 25 poll.
