LONGVIEW, Texas – The Concordia Texas baseball team held LeTourneau to two runs on the day, winning both games of the doubleheader and completing the sweep of the three-game conference series on Saturday.
The Tornados' pitching staff was on full display, giving up only one earned run in 17 innings of baseball and combining for 16 strikeouts.
The first game ended with fireworks in extra innings,
Grayson Lee crushing a two-run homer in the 10th inning to lead the Tornados to a 3-1 victory.
Easton Migl made the start on the bump in the first game, suffering only four hits and one run with four strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work.
Michael Smith earned the win in relief, punching out four over 4.2 shutout innings.
LeTourneau struck first, scratching a run across in the first to gain an early 1-0 lead.
The game was locked in a pitcher's duel, both sides hanging zeroes for the next three frames, but the Tornados evened the score at 1-1 in the top of the fifth thanks to an RBI double from
Casen Novak.
After seven innings the score remained a 1-1 stalemate, so the Tornados found themselves in a 10-inning marathon game.
The Tornados' offense finally prevailed in the 10th,
Corbin Cross ripping a single up the middle to reach base as the tying run and Lee coming through with the big fly to give CTX a 3-1 lead in extra innings.
LeTourneau threatened in the bottom of the inning, the tying run reaching on a single, but Smith stopped the LETU threat in its track by striking out the final batter of the game. Concordia Texas took game one 3-1.
The Tornados put together another outstanding effort on the mound in the second game, allowing only one run in seven innings.
Noah Pendergrass made the start, holding LETU to one run on four hits in 4.1 innings pitched, and
Thomas Houle brought his best stuff out of the bullpen, striking out five and suffering only one hit across 2.2 innings of relief to earn his first career win.
The game remained scoreless through four, both pitchers dealing their way through the order.
In the bottom of the fifth, LeTourneau put the first run on the board due to a CTX error, taking a 1-0 lead.
The Tornados answered in the next frame, starting with a double off the bat of
Owen Hill. After advancing to third on a single from Lee, Mason Dubois tied things up with an RBI groundout. The score was all tied up at 1-1 heading into the final inning.
Concordia Texas exploded for a huge seventh inning, scoring six runs on four hits and taking advantage of two LETU errors.
Dalton Watts led things off with a single to right field, and advanced to scoring position after
Casen Novak was hit by a pitch. Goynes drew a walk, loading the bases, and
Bret Leiferman delivered with a two-RBI single to give the Tornados their first lead of the game, 3-1.
Marcus Thach followed that up with a single of his own, once again loading the bases, and then Goynes came home to score on a wild pitch, making it 4-1. Dubois then picked up his second and third RBI of the game on a double, and
Dalton Watts brought another run across with a sacrifice fly. The Tornados added plenty of insurance, entering the final frame with a 7-1 lead.
Houle made sure LETU had no hope of a comeback, striking out the side in order to end the game, and CTX completed the sweep with a 7-1 win.
With the pair of wins, the Tornados extended their winning streak to four and advanced to 4-2 in American Southwest Conference play.
Goynes and Watts picked up three base knocks each on the day, and Dubois drove in three runs on two hits. After today's performance, Watts is now hitting an even .400 in 23 plate appearances.
Concordia Texas will return home next weekend, hosting ASC foe UT Dallas for a three-game set at Tornado Field, starting with a single game on Friday at 6 p.m.
