BASEBALL: No. 6 UT-Tyler completes sweep of LeTourneau
TYLER, Texas – The nationally-ranked UT-Tyler Patriots completed a series sweep of LeTourneau after winning both games of a doubleheader Saturday in Tyler.
The Patriots (26-2, 10-2 ASC East) ranked No. 6 by d3baseball.com, jumped out to a 10-0 lead in game one and won the contest by a score of 10-2. They won the final game of the afternoon 5-1.
LeTourneau (14-14) fell to 3-6 in American Southwest Conference play. The YellowJackets were held scoreless until the final scheduled inning of both games Saturday.
The Jackets were only the latest team that proved to be unsuccessful in knocking around UT-Tyler starting pitcher Chad Sherman in Saturday's opener. The Texas A&M transfer improved to 7-0 and struck out nine batters as pitched all seven innings for the complete game.
The two earned runs scored by the Jackets matched a season high for Sherman, who last gave up two earned runs against Schreiner on Feb. 19.
Dustin Varnado (Gilmer, Texas/Gilmer) knocked a double to right field in the top of the seventh that scored Chuck Daugherty (Terrell, Texas/Terrell) and Brent Sellers (Woodinville, Wash./Woodinville).
Will Bunker (Little River, Texas/Academy) absorbed the loss after giving up seven earned runs over 1 1/3 innings.
Freshman hurler Jordan Price (Diana, Texas/New Diana) pitched a collegiate best 4 2/3 innings and struck out two batters while giving up only one run and scattering four hits. The solid outing helped Price's ERA plummet to 4.91, a drop of more than five runs per every nine innings.
In game two, the Patriots' Matt Schimpf scattered six hits over eight scoreless innings en route to the victory.
The Jackets scored their lone run in the top of the ninth inning when Logan Smith (Terrell, Texas/Terrell) scored on a wild pitch. Smith reached base after a passed ball on a strikeout prevented the Patriots from recording the third out of the inning.
Chris Bertram (Friendswood, Texas/Baytown Christian) knocked three base hits for the Jackets, while teammate Nate Tomaszewski (Dove Canyon, Calif./Tesoro) collected two base hits.
The YellowJackets return to action Tuesday when they host NAIA opponent Texas College in a doubleheader. First pitch from Conrad-Vernon Field is scheduled for 1 p.m.
