LONGVIEW, Texas - The Austin College baseball team dropped the first half of its doubleheader at LeTourneau 11-7, but bounced back with a 6-4 victory in game two to bring the record for the 'Roos to 3-3 overall this season.
In game one, the 'Roos and Jackets took a scoreless game into the third, when Austin College plated a pair of runs on RBI singles by Oscar Gonzalez and Austin Dudley. LeTourneau answered back with a run in the bottom of the inning, and tacked on four more in the fourth to go ahead 5-2. James Arguello's two-run double sparked a three-run fifth inning to square things up, but the Jackets plated three more in the bottom half of the inning to push the margin back to three runs.
Austin College got one run back on a sacrifice fly by Gonzalez in the top of the sixth, but in the bottom half of the inning the Jackets got a three-run homer from Will Bradshaw to push the lead to 11-6, and Austin College would manage to narrow the gap by just one run in their final set of at-bats in the seventh.
Ryan Culp tossed a complete game and took the loss for Austin College, surrendering 11 runs - only three of which were earned - on 16 hits with seven strikeouts as the 'Roos were plagued by five errors. Arguello and Dudley each collected two hits to lead Austin College at the dish.
LeTourneau jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one and a 4-0 cushion after two innings of play in game two, and Austin College failed to get on the scoreboard until the fourth when a balk brought home Nick Flynn to make it 4-1. However, in the next inning the 'Roos got an RBI single from Justin Alphonse to open up what would become a four-run frame, putting Austin College ahead 5-4. Alphonse would come home on a passed ball in the top of the seventh as well, extending the lead to 6-4, and Brett Taff came on to earn a 2.1 inning save.
Gonzalez got the win for the 'Roos, giving up four runs on just four hits with six strikeouts. He also went 1-for-1 at the plate, drawing three walks. Taff went 2-for-4 in addition to getting the save, and Flynn finished 2-for-4.