LONGVIEW, Texas – The W baseball team went 1-2 in its three-game series at LeTourneau University on Friday and Saturday. The Owls (1-7) won the series' opener, 10-5, in game one of Friday's doubleheader, before dropping the nightcap, 11-9, and Saturday's finale, 10-2.
 
Friday's victory – MUW's first of 2025 – saw the team jump out to a 9-2 lead after 3 ½ frames. The
W exploded for 15 hits in the game, as well, its most in any game of 2025, thus far.
 
No less than six players had multi-hit games in the team's much needed high-yield attack. The main thrust came from veterans Avery Benson and Matthew Windham. Batting second in the lineup, Benson went 3-for-4 with a double, three runs batted in and a walk on his ledger.
 
Windham, batting ninth, went 2-for-2, with a triple. Windham scored twice and drove in four RBI. He also drew a pair of walks.
 
Number eight batter Swayze Rikard swung a hot bat, as well. Rikard had his first collegiate multi-hit game by going 3-for-4 versus the Yellow Jackets, scoring a run and driving in one. Leadoff man – and leading batter for MUW - Tyler Estabrook continued to scorch the ball in game one with a 2-for-5 day and a run scored.
 
Newcomer Zach Johnson was 2-for-4 with a run. Senior Landon Clark went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs. Johnson and Clark both drew a walk, as well.
 
Clark was also the pitcher of record for The W, tossing a completed game, 7.0 inning win. He struck out two and walked three, allowing seven hits.
 
While game two on Friday prove to be a setback, it was also a gutsy performance that nearly produced a fairy tale ending.  The W trailed in the game 8-0 through five innings. But the visiting Owls battled back with four in the sixth, two in the seventh and three in the eighth to knot the game at 9-9. But LETU would pick up a pair of runs in its half of the eighth to grab the win.
 
Johnson was 2-for-5, with a run and two RBI to lead MUW's nine-hit effort. Zack Egan (1-5, RBI) and Johnny Setchfield (1-4) each had a double, while Clark (1-3, 2 BB) contributed a two-run triple in the seventh.
 
Joseph Gantt (0-1), who threw the eighth, took the loss for the Owls.
 
In Saturday's series capper, The W enjoyed a 2-1 lead through 4 ½ innings, after an unearned run in the fourth and a RBI single by Windham (2-3, BB) in the fifth.
 
But the Yellow Jackets stung the Owls with two in their half of the sixth to take the lead. Then LETU posted a deathly seven-run seventh inning to blow it open.
 
MUW starter Will Carter (0-1) went 6.0 innings, scattering five hits and allowing three earned runs. He struck out six and walked just two Jackets.