LONGVIEW – LeTourneau's baseball team broke out in a big way in the nightcap to salvage a split in the home opening series with Sul Ross State. LETU bounced back after dropping the first game to pound SRSU, 21-5, in the nightcap.

The rubber game is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Conrad-Vernon Field.

The YellowJackets (4-4, 1-1 American Southwest Conference) lost the opener, 13-0. But an 18-hit parade in the second game evened the series in the conference opener.

The Jackets chased Lobos starter Isaac Gallego after four innings, tagging him with eight runs and six hits. LeTourneau scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to break a 4-4 tie. Noah Mahoney crushed a grand slam to open the floodgates in a game the YellowJackets scored in all but the first and sixth innings.

A senior catcher, Mahoney went 3-for-5 with, two doubles and a career-high six RBI on a day he tossed out three runners trying to steal, and had 11 putouts in the nightcap.

LETU scored five in the seventh on RBI doubles to left center by Cody Lee and Mahoney, Matt Lowery's sacrifice fly, Anthony Ybarra's run-scoring single to left and an error. Sul Ross State committed five errors in the second game.

The YellowJackets tacked on five more in the eighth on Lowery's RBI double, Lane Williams' two-run double to right center, Kameron Lindsey's RBI groundout and an error.

Kolton Eberlan (1-1) went five innings, allowing six hits and four runs, three earned, while fanning five to pick up the win. Jedidiah Crone struck out seven over the final four innings to earn the save.

Lee was 2-for-4 with three RBI. Lindsey was 2-for-6 with two RBI, Williams went 2-for-5 with two RBI, Ybarra 2-for-6 with an RBI, and Chaz Jackson 3-for-5.

The Jackets had four hits in the opener – all base knocks by Will Bradshaw, Colton Oney, Mark Sanders and Lee.