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LeTourneau Men’s Golf Takes Third, Fifth At Pinecrest Intercollegiate.
LONGVIEW, Texas – Shooting the low team round of the tournament, the LeTourneau University men’s golf team would make a move to take third place at their home Pinecrest Intercollegiate golf meet while the “B” Team would take fifth at Pinecrest Country Club in Longview, Texas on Tuesday, March 5.
Firing a team score of 300 in the final round, LETU would finish with a two-day team score of 624, just seven shots back of the University of Texas-Dallas who won the event with a two-day total of 617. Hardin-Simmons University would take second place with a score of 622 while Tyler Junior College came in fourth with a score of 625. The LETU “B” Team shot a final-round 322 to earn a fifth-place finish with a total of 635.
As part of the low team score of the tournament, YellowJacket Landon Oney would snag the low individual round of the meet by shooting a one-under 70 on Tuesday by going four-under throughout his final three holes of the day. The Diana, Texas, native, finished second with a two-day total of 145, just one shot back of medalist Brice Cooper of Texas-Dallas who shot a final round 73 to finish with a 144 total.
Taking third place in the individual race would be Dalton Northcutt who would shoot rounds of 74-77 for a 151 total while Reed Fisher made a 22-spot jump up the leaderboard to finish tied for ninth with a total of 157 (84-73). Buster Byrnes managed to finish in a tie for 14th with rounds of 77-82 for a 159 total while Alex Koll finished one shot back in a tie for 17th (82-78-160).
Wes Nolen finished tied for 20th with scores of 82-80 for a 162 two-day total while Cory Gillespie bounced back from a day one round of 85 to shoot a final-round 71 to finish in a tie for 25th. Keaton Williams stayed steady to shoot a final round 84 and finish with a total of 167 while Ryan Newell (80-91-171) and Michael Gonzales (91-83-174) also competed as part of the LETU “B” Team.
LeTourneau will bookend the month of March by only competing once more during the month when they travel to Plano, Texas to take part in the Texas Cup. The meet, which will be hosted by the University of Texas-Dallas, will take place at the Courses at Watters Creek on March 23rd and 24th.
LETU “A” Team – Cory Gillespie, Wes Nolen, Reed Fisher, Alex Koll, Keaton Williams
LETU “B” Team – Dalton Northcutt, Ryan Newell, Landon Oney, Buster Byrnes, Michael Gonzales
Maddison Brackenreg Named ASC East Women’s Tennis Player of the Week.
RICHARDSON, Texas – For the first time in her career, LeTourneau University women’s tennis player Maddison Brackenreg has been named American Southwest Conference East Division Women’s Tennis Player of the Week for her performance during the week of February 25 – March 2.
Braceknreg went a perfect 4-0 last week after picking up a pair of wins at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles with partner Katharine Waldthausen. In the singles matches, Brackenreg wouldn’t allow her opponent to win more than three games in any set to earn straight-set victories against McMurry and Howard Payne. Doubles play would prove to be just as successful for Brackenreg with wins by scores of 8-1 and 8-4.
Maddison is a criminal justice major and computer science minor, and the daughter of Craig and Jodie Brackenreg.
LeTourneau Women’s Golf Makes Final Round Push At Pinecrest Intercollegiate.
LONGVIEW, Texas – With all three individual players improving upon their first-round scores, the LeTourneau University women’s golf team would land two players in the top 20 at the Pinecrest Intercollegiate at Pinecrest Country Club in Longview, Texas on Tuesday, March 5.
Freshman Baylee Van Houten led the YellowJackets in their home tournament. She would make a move up the leaderboard 11 spots by shooting a final round 82 to finish in seventh with a two-day total of 178. Junior Brittany Taylor would also see significant gains in her round-to-round scoring by posting a final-round score of 97 to finish with a 201 total in a three-way tie for 20th. Also competing for the YellowJackets would be Rachael Green who would shoot a final round 116 to finish in 30th place.
LETU will take a week off before returning to action on Monday, March 18 to take part in the Centenary College Hal Sutton Invitational. The meet will be at the Golf Course at StoneBridge in Bossier City, LA.
LeTourneau Women’s Golf Braves Elements In Opening Round Of Pinecrest Intercollegiate.
LONGVIEW, Texas – Playing through cold, blustery conditions throughout the day, the LeTourneau University women’s golf team would battle through 18 holes of golf in the opening round of the Pinecrest Intercollegiate held at Pinecrest Country Club in Longview, Texas on Monday, March 4.
Playing as individuals, LETU would be led by freshman Baylee Van Houten who would fire an opening round 96 to sit in 18th place heading into tomorrow’s final round. Junior Brittany Taylor is tied for 26th after an opening round score of 104 while Rachael Green is in 30th place with a score of 109.
Tomorrow’s action will begin at 11 a.m. with 18 holes of golf set to determine both the team and individual titles on the 5,578-yard course.
Dalton Northcutt, Landon Oney Lead LETU Men’s Golf On Day One of Home Meet.
LONGVIEW, Texas – Fielding two teams in their only home meet of the year, the LeTourneau University men’s golf team was led by local freshmen Dalton Northcutt and Landon Oney on day one of the Pinecrest Intercollegiate held at Pinecrest Country Club in Longview, Texas on Monday, March 4.
The LeTourneau “B” team would manage to shoot a first-round score of 313 to sit in a tie for second place overall while the YellowJacket “A” team would shoot an opening round 324 to sit in fifth-place overall on the 6,591-yard, Par 71 course.
Leading the team race is the University of Texas-Dallas who would shoot an opening round score of 308 while Tyler Junior College would wind up as the other team to pull a 313 and sit in a tie with the LETU “B” team. Two shots ahead of the YellowJacket “A” team are East Texas Baptist (322) while Centenary College (337), Jacksonville College (344) and Louisiana College (346) rounded out the team scoring.
Individually, Northcutt sits three shots out of the lead after posting a three-over 74 opening round while Oney shot a four-over 75. Buster Byrnes gives LeTourneau three players in the top 10 after shooting a 77 to sit in a four-way tie for sixth while Ryan Newell is tied for 14th (80). Alex Koll and Wes Nolen would both end up shooting scores of 82 to sit in a tie for 23rd while Keaton Williams is tied for 26th with a score of 83.
Also posting rounds for LeTourneau on Monday were Reed Fisher (84), Cory Gillespie (85) and Michael Gonzales (91) as part of the 49-player individual scoring race.
Tomorrow’s final round action will feature 18 holes slated for an 11 a.m. shotgun start. The meet was reduced from 54 holes to 36 holes due to weather conditions that moved into the Longview area on Sunday afternoon.
LETU “A” Team – Cory Gillespie, Wes Nolen, Reed Fisher, Alex Koll, Keaton Williams
LETU “B” Team – Dalton Northcutt, Ryan Newell, Landon Oney, Buster Byrnes, Michael Gonzales
LeTourneau Men’s Track Pole Vault Trio Qualify For NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – LeTourneau University men’s track and field student-athletes Alex Hindman, Austin Parrish, and Jack Miller have qualified for the 2019 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships to be held March 8-9 at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Boston, Massachusetts, with the University of Massachusetts, Boston serving as host.
The pole-vaulting trio qualified as part of the top 20 declared student-athletes in their event and accepted into the competition. Hindman will enter the contest ranked sixth among the qualified pole vault participants with a season-best mark of 4.98 meters while Parrish and Miller are both ranked eighth with a score of 4.88 meters. It marks the second consecutive season that Hindman has qualified for the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships while Parrish and Miller will each be making their first appearance at the Championship meet.
LeTourneau Baseball Wins Pair of One-Run Games Over Mountaineers.
LONGVIEW, Texas – For the second straight weekend, the LeTourneau University baseball team would pick up a doubleheader sweep by taking two games over visiting Schreiner University by a score of 4-3 and 5-4 at Conrad-Vernon Field in Longview, Texas on Saturday, March 2.
LETU now sits one game above .500 at 7-6 overall while the Mountaineers slipped to 3-11 overall after dropping the final two games of this weekend’s three-game series.
“Pitching is what kept us in the games this weekend, and we had a lot of opportunities offensively throughout the day,” Said head coach Robin Harriss in a post-game interview. “We had some big clutch hits, but our pitching was great with only five walks and 26 strikeouts over the weekend.” “Andrew Harlan was a big part of the day by throwing a complete game in the first game, but our whole pitching staff really stepped up and kept Schreiner in check throughout the day.”
How It Happened (Game 1):
Offenses for both teams would be held in check through the first two innings of play as a Brandon Ramirez single in the bottom of the first would be the only hit for either squad early on.
After being held hitless for the first two innings of play, Schreiner would utilize a leadoff double in the top of the third to plate the first run of the game as part of a two-run inning off three hits.
LeTourneau would be unable to respond in the bottom of the third, allowing the Mountaineers to add to their lead in the top of the fourth with a run thanks in part to a YellowJacket fielding error, but strand two runners which would ultimately prove costly.
LETU would manage to get one run back in the bottom of the inning by using a leadoff single from Bryce Brueggemeyer and an RBI double from Cody Lee to trail by a score of 3-1 going to the fifth inning.
A quick one-two-three inning from Harlan would allow LETU to get back to the plate and use a Kyle Guevara leadoff double to spark a two-run inning with a fielding error and balk bringing in the runs to tie things at 3-3.
Schreiner would once again go down in order in the sixth, allowing LeTourneau to come back up to bat where the YellowJackets would get a leadoff single and manage to plate a run on a fielder’s choice as pinch-runner Jayden Banks would score when the Mountaineers would be unable to turn an inning-ending double play.
Harlan would be sent back out to try and finish the complete game, which he would do by retiring Schreiner to end the game by retiring the final ten batters he faced.
Key Stats:
LeTourneau would double up the Mountaineers 8-4 in hits and take advantage of five stolen bases in the game to move runners into scoring position.
Senior Lee Hosie would help carry the load in the contest by stealing two bases and driving in two runs in addition to scoring once despite not recording a hit in the game.
Harlan’s tough outing came with three strikeouts and facing just six batters over the minimum while allowing four hits and walking two batters.
How It Happened (Game 2):
LETU wouldn’t have to play the role of coming from behind in game two as the YellowJackets jumped out to an early lead with a two-out rally. That was in the bottom of the first to score one run on a Lee Walk to score Brueggemeyer but would lead the bases loaded after seeing all three outs in the inning come via strikeout.
Hitting woes would carry over from game one for Schreiner as the YellowJackets would allow just one hit through two innings of play while collecting four hits in the bottom of the second to score three runs with Jacob Jones delivering a two-RBI single.
The score would remain 4-0 in favor of LeTourneau until the top of the fourth when the Mountaineers would use a sacrifice fly to push across one run and cut into the YellowJacket lead before adding a second run in the top of the fifth to knock out LETU starter Raul Martinez.
With the YellowJacket offense facing issues of their own, Schreiner would threaten to take the lead in the top of the sixth by putting their first four batters aboard but manage to score only one more run after a bases-loaded walk by stranding two runners and failing to score after tying things at 4-4.
LeTourneau would manage to reclaim the lead at 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh by taking advantage of two Schreiner errors with Banks coming around to score again by beating the throw home on a fielder’s choice.
Despite taking the lead, LETU would wind up leaving the bases loaded and be unable to add any insurance runs against a potent Mountaineer offense.
The YellowJackets would work around a one-out single from Schreiner in the top of the eighth but come up empty themselves in the bottom half of the inning despite putting another potential insurance run just 90 feet away from scoring.
One last call to the bullpen proved to the right choice for LeTourneau as Kolton Eberlan would come in and slam the door shut on a comeback by Schreiner as the sophomore would strike out the first two batters he faced before getting a flyout to end the game and earn his first save of the year.
Key Stats:
The one-run victory would come in similarly to game one as LETU would outhit Schreiner 9-6 and be forced to overcome scoring just one run in the final seven innings of play.
Five total pitchers would be used in the game for LeTourneau, with Konner Gayle picking up his second win of the year after tossing 2.1 innings and allowing just one hit while striking out three.
LETU’s nine hits would be scattered among five players with Hosie, Brueggemeyer, Jones, and Guevara all collecting two hits.
What’s Next?
American Southwest Conference action resumes for LeTourneau with a second trip to Abilene, Texas with McMurry University awaiting the YellowJackets. LETU will start their series with the War Hawks with a single-game on Friday, March 8 at 7:00 p.m. and will be followed up with a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader. The series will serve as the ASC opening set for McMurry.
Walk-Off Home Run Gives LeTourneau Softball 8-6 Extra-Innings Win Over Mary Hardin-Baylor.
LONGVIEW, Texas- Searching for their second American Southwest Conference sweep of the year, the LeTourneau University softball team did so in walk-off fashion with an 8-6 eight-inning victory over Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday, March 2.
The YellowJackets improve to 9-4 on the season and 7-2 in ASC action. The loss drops the Crusaders to 5-8 overall and 5-4 in conference play.
The Crusaders came out swinging in the top of the first, recording two hits on one run to open the contest. LETU followed with a similar offensive attack as Macey Mize and Haydn Parker reached base with two outs. Hana Bonner showed no signs of halting the rally as she sent a three-run home run over the left field wall to make it 3-1 in favor of LETU. Katelynn Trombley and Ashley Crawford would then set the table for a pair of first-year students in Taylor Nichols and Emilee Anderson to rip back-to-back RBI’s as the YellowJackets headed into the second inning holding a 5-1 lead.
In an attempt to cut the deficit, the Crusaders loaded the bases in the top of the second but only managed to scratch one run across in the frame off a wild pitch to make it 5-2 where the score remained until the fifth.
A trio of hits and three RBI’s did the job for UMHB to deadlock the game at five in the top of the fifth inning. The Crusaders added to their total once again in the sixth, following a double to begin the inning. LETU continued the back and forth in the bottom half of the frame when Silver Montgomery scored off a single from Parker.
UMHB posted a significant threat in the final inning, but the LETU defense denied their efforts as the Crusaders stranded two runners in scoring position. The YellowJackets were also held scoreless in the bottom of the seventh pushing the game into extra innings.
After holding Mary Hardin-Baylor scoreless in the top half of the extra-frame, Emilee Anderson started things off for LETU with a single before seeing the Crusaders retire the next two YellowJacket hitters. With a ninth inning on the verge, Mize stepped to the plate and sealed the win with a two-run shot over the left-center field fence to clinch the series sweep with a final score of 8-6.
Samantha Akers earned her fourth win of the season in the circle for the YellowJackets after pitching 3.2 innings and holding the Crusader offense to two hits, one earned run, and two shutout innings. Anderson led the YellowJackets with three hits while Kennedi Dillow, Mize and Parker followed with two hits each.
The YellowJackets will look to continue their win streak as they travel to Alpine, Texas to face Sul Ross State in a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader on Friday, March 8 at 4:00 p.m. The Lobos will enter the series with a 5-5 overall record, coming off a series win over the University of the Ozarks.
Tiebreaker Win Gives LeTourneau Men’s Tennis 5-4 Road Victory At McMurry.
ABILENE, Texas – Seeing three of the six singles matches go to third-set tiebreakers, the LeTourneau University men’s tennis team would use a come-from-behind three-set victory from Jeffrey Golladay at number six singles to earn a 5-4 road victory over McMurry University at the Abilene Country Club in Abilene, Texas on Saturday, March 2.
LETU improved to 4-2 overall with the victory while the War Hawks fell to 1-6 overall following their only match of the weekend.
Picking up wins from Jimmie Henson and Christian Farris at number one doubles (8-4) as well as Zac Crowley-Kurth and James Estrada (8-3), the YellowJackets would grab an early 2-0 lead over MCM to gain momentum in hopes of a doubles sweep. The War Hawks would manage to avoid a 3-0 hole going to singles play as Nathan Schmidt and Bobby Clark would fall by a score of 8-5 at number two doubles to make the score 2-1 with six singles matches remaining.
Big battles at the top of the lineup would set the tone for the rest of the match as Henson would be outlasted 7-5, 3-6, 10-5 at number one singles while Farris would fall 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) at number two singles to allow McMurry to take their first lead of the day at 3-2. Schmidt would tie things back up for the YellowJackets at number three singles with a 6-2, 6-2 victory before seeing Crowley-Kurth fall in a heartbreaking 4-6, 6-4, 10-6 defeat at number four singles.
With the final two matches set to determine the outcome of the game, Clark would take care of business at number five singles with a 6-3, 6-1 win to set up a winner-take-all number six singles match. In the game, Golladay would drop the first set 6-4 but manage to bounce back with a 6-1 set two victories to set up the super tiebreaker that would clinch the match for LETU or MCM. Things would be even closer in the super tiebreak as they would need extra points with Golladay taking an 11-9 victory to give the YellowJackets the thrilling win.
What’s Next?
After seeing their initially scheduled match with Dallas Baptist University postponed, LeTourneau will get their chance to square off with the Patriots on Wednesday, March 6 at 3″00 p.m. The game will take place at the Davis Tennis Courts on the campus of LeTourneau University, and will be the makeup of a February 22 postponement.
LeTourneau Women’s Tennis Falls In Closely Contested 5-4 Match At McMurry
ABILENE, Texas – The YellowJackets were holding a 2-1 lead heading into singles play, and LeTourneau University women’s tennis team would be unable to secure a victory before ultimately falling by a score of 5-4 to McMurry University at the Abilene Country Club in Abilene, Texas.
LETU finishes the weekend 1-1 to move to 2-4 while the War Hawks improve to 3-4 overall on the season.
In doubles action, the YellowJackets would pick up wins at number one (Katharine Waldthausen/Maddison Brackenreg), and number two (Gracie Favela/Terin Murray) doubles by scores of 8-4 and would nearly sweep all three doubles points. The number three doubles match would see Lauren Rockwell and Samantha Trevino battle throughout before ultimately falling 8-5 to put the score at 2-1 in favor of LETU.
Singles play would prove just as competitive throughout the matches as Waldthausen would fight back from a 6-4 first set defeat to pick up a 6-2 win in the second set and force a tiebreak which would ultimately fall in favor of the War Hawks by a score of 10-8. Brackenreg and Favela would both earn wins in their singles matches, with Brackenreg taking a 6-2, 6-3 win at number two singles and Favela a 6-3, 6-1 straight-set victory at number three singles to put the YellowJackets a point away from clinching the match.
McMurry would manage to flip the script however in the final three matches of the day as Murray would fall 6-2, 6-3 at number four singles while handing Rockwell a 6-1, 6-2 defeat. Trevino would play at number six singles in what would prove to be the deciding match which would go 6-1, 6-0 in favor of MCM.
What’s Next?
Following a five-match road trip, LeTourneau will return home on Wednesday, March 6 at 3:00 p.m .to take on Dallas Baptist University. They added the match after the YellowJacket men would postpone their originally scheduled game with the Patriots due to weather.
Matt Kinney
Sports Information Director
Office: 903-233-3735
Cell: 903-736-7669
MattKinney@letu.edu
www.letuathletics.com