LONGVIEW, Texas -- One of the goals of LeTourneau University is to provide opportunities to engage in the local and global community.

The LeTourneau baseball program took that goal to a new level during the 2024-25 academic year.

YellowJacket players gave over 600 hours of service to Longview-area non-profits during the Fall 2024 semester. Due to the overwhelming amount of hours put into service, LeTourneau did the equivalent of over $23,000 in contributions with their man hours.

During the last week of January, the baseball program was recognized and honored with an award to thank the team for all its work put back into the Longview community. Dr. Evan Dolive, Executive Director of the Greater Longview United Way, presented LeTourneau with the Heart of the Community Service Award and spoke highly about the team and its drive to serve the local community.

"Our vision for this program is to be nationally known for our play and to be regionally known by our community as being salt and light," said head coach Paul Phillips. "Our desire is for when people recognize the cursive 'L' and see our guys out in the community that they immediately associate those men as gospel-centered leaders who pursue Christ tenaciously in everything."

YellowJacket players primarily volunteered with the Boys and Girls Club, but there were many other organizations that felt the presence of LeTourneau over the last few months. 

"Our guys set a goal of 10 hours of community service per individual and quickly realized we could do more. The leaders on the team decided to raise the bar to 15 per individual, and they still exceeded that. I am really proud of them for the way they displayed the love of Christ by being his hands and feet in this community," added Phillips.

LeTourneau opens the spring season on Feb. 21 at Millsaps. The home opener is set for Feb. 25 vs. Vermont State Castleton (6 p.m.).

FOLLOW THE YELLOWJACKETS

Be sure to follow LeTourneau athletics all season long on letuathletics.com and social media at Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram for up-to-date scores, news, and other information.