ALPINE, Texas -- Eight home runs for the LeTourneau baseball team lead to a doubleheader sweep at Sul Ross on Friday evening.
GAME ONE: LeTourneau 10, Sul Ross 9
Ben Jones and Blake Vice both had multi-home run games in an exciting 10-9 win.Â
The five home runs by LeTourneau ties the game record that was met in the 2024 opening series with Millsaps where the team also hit five homers.
Ben Jones and Vice hit their first homers to the left field side in the top of the second to give LeTourneau a 2-0 lead.
Into the top of the third, the YellowJackets had a six-run inning that started with a Zach Zarko single.
Dane Jones moved him along with a single of his own before Hayden Norris doubled on the left-field line to bring Zarko in and leave runners on the corners in a 3-0 game with no outs in the third.
Xander Nabors grounded out for an RBI to score Dane Jones.
Ben Jones then crushed one over the fence in left-center to clear the bases for Carter Amarantos.
Amarantos came up after a pitching change for the hosting Lobos. Amarantos hit one to center field for a single.
Vice then came to the plate and sent another one over the fence this time to left-center to make it 8-0, after the top of the third inning.
The Lobos started to answer back in the next frame with three hits in the bottom of the third to score two runs.
The bottom of the fourth inning saw the Lobos score six runs off seven hits and an error knotting it up at 8-8 after four.
Dane Jones stepped up to the plate in the sixth inning with one out and a Tyler Hedin on third base before saying goodbye to the ball sending it over the fence in right-center. The blast made it 10-8 with the YellowJackets needing six more outs to secure a victory.
Sul Ross responded with a homerun shot from Thor out to left-center to make it a one-run game (10-9).
The LeTourneau defense held strong the rest of the way as Camden Miller retired the side in the sixth inning and TJ Spitdowski closed out the seventh.
Vice and Norris both had three hits in the game. Norris with one RBI and Vice with three RBIs.
Ben Jones had two home runs which totaled three RBIs. Dane Jones had two hits, a homer, and two RBIs.
Miller (1-0) got the win for LeTourneau. He struck out three batters in 3.0 innings of work allowing just four hits.
TJ Spitdowski (1) got the save with his shutout inning allowing one hit and striking out one batter.
Loveless (0-1) got the loss as he allowed six hits and four earned runs.Â
GAME TWO: LeTourneau 15, Sul Ross 4
The floodgates opened for the LeTourneau offense in game two.Â
The YellowJackets secured 19 hits and 15 runs.
Amarantos went 5-for-6 to tie Xander Nabors and company for the most hits in a game in NCAA era program history.
Tyler Hedin and Jaggar Vaughn each had three hits and an RBI in game two.
Dane Jones, Vaughn, and Jonah McDaniel all hit home runs off the Sull Ross pitching staff.
McDaniel's home run marked his first hit in his collegiate career.Â
Nabors recorded a triple and Norris had a pair of doubles.
LeTourneau took an early lead in the third inning when Dane hit his first homer and Hedin put one up the middle for an RBI to take a 2-0 lead.
In the fifth inning, the YellowJackets exploded scoring seven runs off of six hits to take a 9-0 lead.
LeTourneau would continue to add on insurance runs with two more in the sixth, three in the seventh, and a 15th run in the eighth.Â
Dalton Pickett (1-0) got the win with his 7.0 innings on the bump he struck out five batters and allowed seven hits and one earned run.
Jacob Salinas (0-3) got the loss as he pitched 4.0 innings allowing 10 hits, five earned runs, and struck out two batters.
UP NEXT
LeTourneau will finish up the series with Sul Ross on Saturday with first pitch set for 1 p.m.
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