Patriots’ Brock Lemire slides in safely to home plate during the team’s 8-4 win Saturday over LeTourneau University at Irwin Field. With the wins, the Patriots remain in first place in the American Southwest Conference East Division by one game over Mississippi College. The Patriots play the University of Dallas on Tuesday at home. Photo by: Kyle G. Horst
The Patriots defeated the LeTourneau Yellow Jackets 16-6, 5-1, 8-4 in a series that began Friday night at Irwin Field.
From the first inning, the Patriots took control and never looked back.
On Friday, the Patriots scored five runs in the first with the first five batters all reaching base on singles.
After adding one run in the third, Patriots starting pitcher Lex Wolfe gave up two runs in the fourth on a two-run home run by Ed Hurta.
However, the Patriots responded in the bottom half of the inning with four more runs to extend the lead to 10-2.
Wolfe finished the game going 6 2/3 innings, giving up six runs (four earned) and improving to 4-0 on the season.
Grant Campbell and James Alvarado both pitched one scoreless inning each to end the game.
Saturday’s games
In game one of the doubleheader, the Patriots quickly got on the board again, this time only scoring two runs.
In the end, those runs were all that were needed as Brett Holland continued his dominance in the last few games by pitching another complete game.
Holland went all seven innings, giving up only six hits and one run while striking out 12, his fourth straight game with double-digits in strikeouts.
“Brett has been pitching well lately. He’s got great command on his breaking ball and when that pitch is really working on him, there is no one better than him. Also, his fastball can get him out of almost any jam,” Vilade said. “He’s a competitor and these kinds of performances are what we expect out of him.“
The lone run Holland gave up came with two outs in the top of the fourth when Joey Ramos hit a sacrifice fly to left-center, scoring Josh Brown. Earlier in the inning, Hurta reached base on a wild pitch on strike three, extending the inning by one more out.
Jeremy Harding finished the game 2-for-2 with two runs batted in and one run scored while Brock Lemire, Chad Daleiden and Paige Hodges knocked in the other three runs for the Patriots.
In game two, the Patriots started out the inning with scores.
Only one run came across on a single by Harding.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Patriots extended the lead to 4-0 thanks in part to three hits, three fielders choice’s, two walks and one error.
In the top of the fifth, LeTourneau got on the board with a solo home run by Chris Tampke.
The Patriots then responded with two more runs in the bottom of the fifth on a double by Hodges and an error by LeTourneau’s second baseman Daniel Francis that scored Hodges.
Joseph Towns knocked in another Patriot in the sixth to extend the lead once more, this time to 7-1.
For the second time in as many days, Hurta hit a homerun, this one being a solo shot in the eighth to cut the deficit to 7-2.
Infielder Chad Daleiden grabs a hit during Saturday’s game against LeTourneau. The Patriots swept the Yellow Jackets in three games. Photo by: Kyle G. Horst
Blake Booher started the game and went five innings, giving up only three hits and one earned run. For the season, Booher is 7-0 and 1.56 earned run average leads the team.
“Our guys are competing hard but there are always the little things that we can improve on like our base running,” Vilade said. “However, our guys are doing everything we ask of them and that is to be ready, play hard and ready to go every game.”
With the series sweep, the Patriots improve to 27-6 on the season and 10-2 in American Southwest Conference play.
The Patriots are only one game ahead of Mississippi College for first place in the ASC East Division after the Choctaws swept East Texas Baptist University this weekend to go to 9-3 in conference.
Both the Choctaws and Patriots meet at Irwin Field in a three-games series on April 17-18 to end the regular season.
The Patriots play at home on Tuesday before heading to Louisiana at the end of the week.
By Jeremy Cotham Sports Editor
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