MARSHALL, Texas – Using six runs in the middle innings and one run in the 10th, the LeTourneau University baseball team would manage to outlast East Texas Baptist University by a final score of 7-6 in 10 innings at Woods Field in Marshall, Texas on Saturday, April 6th.
 
Grabbing a win in the series finale, LETU improves to 17-13 overall and 7-5 in American Southwest Conference play while ETBU drops to 21-10 overall and 10-5 in ASC action.
 
Early on would be all Tigers as the YellowJackets would be held to just one hit through three innings of play while allowing three runs on five hits to East Texas Baptist to trail 3-0 after three innings of action. An infield single by Brandon Ramirez would start a rally for LeTourneau as a Bryce Brueggemeyer double and Jacob Jones fielder's choice would get LETU on the scoreboard to trail 3-1.
 
Offensive production would keep going in the top of the fifth as Eli Birriel and Jacob Faubion led off the inning with back-to-back hits to put runners on the corners before a stolen base and passed ball allowed Birriel to come home and move Faubion to third. Ramirez would then drive in a run on a sacrifice bunt to tie things at 3-3 and put new life into the YellowJackets.
 
Things would remain tied at 3-3 until the top of the eighth when the first three batters of the inning for LETU would reach base with a throwing error bringing home Chaz Jackson to break the tie. Jones would then add a run on a sacrifice fly with Noah Mahoney also coming around to score later in the inning as part of a three-run scoring output on two hits to double up the Tigers.
 
LeTourneau would then be forced to work out of a bases-loaded jam with one out in the bottom of the eighth as Konner Gayle would come on in relief and throw one pitch to induce an inning-ending double play and keep the score at 6-3 heading to the ninth. The YellowJackets would not be quite as fortunate in the bottom of the ninth as ETBU would put two runners on with one out before seeing a fielder's choice put the Tigers down to their final out. Before the final out could take place, East Texas Baptist would tie things up on a three-run home run followed by a lightning delay that would extend the game by nearly an hour before going to extra-innings.
 
In the extra-frame, LeTourneau would collect three hits with a Birriel RBI single down the right field line scoring Mahoney from second to put LETU back on top by a 7-6 margin. The one run would prove to be enough as ETBU would be retired in order in the bottom of the 10th to end the game and give the YellowJackets a win in the series finale.
 
Earning his second win of the season, Ryder Lognion would throw 1.1 innings in relief and retire all four batters he faced as LETU would use four pitchers in the contest. LeTourneau's 12-hit output would be paced by a three-for-four performance from Birriel to go along with two RBI and one run scored while Ramirez, Brueggemeyer, and Faubion all recorded two hits each.
 
What's Next?
LeTourneau plays their non-conference finale on Tuesday, April 9th at 6 p.m. when they travel to Sherman, Texas to take on Austin College. Heading into their series finale at Trinity University Texas, AC holds a 7-16 overall record with their last win coming by a score of 26-0 against Schreiner University on March 30th.