LONGVIEW, Texas -   McMurry University's baseball team utilized a three-run ninth inning to break a deadlock with LeTourneau University and salvage a 10-7 win in game three of the series between the schools at Conrad-Vernon Field. The War Hawks improved to 5-11, while the Yellow Jackets fell to 10-7.
 
With the game knotted at 7-7 heading into the final frame, senior Tyler Jenkins opened the McM at-bat with a single into right-centerfield. Then with one down, pinch-hitter Kevin Garza singled to left and Jenkins advanced to second. 
 
That brought senior Chris Baker to the plate. Baker slugged an 0-2 pitch for a two-run double to the right-centerfield gap to drive home both Jenkins and Garza. Catcher Taylor Ward went first-pitch swinging and promptly went to the opposite gap in left-center to exchange places with Baker, making the score, 10-7.
 
The War Hawks tallied in their first swings, thanks to an RBI single by Matthew Chalk that drove in Jordan Speck. LETU matched McM in its half of the first and added a three spot in the bottom of the fourth, along with another single run in the fifth. 
 
But McMurry responded with three runs each in the fifth and sixth innings, to lead 7-5 after six full innings. The Yellow Jackets caught then War Hawks with two runs in their half of the seventh, setting the stage for McM's ninth-inning rally.
 
Speck finished the afternoon by going 2-for-4 with a walk, a run and a run batted in.  Jenkins also collected a pair of hits – going 2-for-5 – and also scored a run. As a team, McMurry slapped four doubles in the game, with one each by Baker, Ward, Mike Gonzales and Payton Stokes.
 
On the mound, starter Stephen Norrell went 5.0 innings, allowing six hits and five runs (only three earned). He struck out two and walked two. Aaron Donald threw 1.2 innings, before Juan Valadez (1-2) came on to toss the last 2.1 innings and earn his first win of the season, as the benefactor of the McM ninth-inning uprising. Valadez struck out two and walked two.