A solo home run in the 4th inning led No. 1 Linfield to a 1-0 victory over the LeTourneau University baseball team in the first round of the McMinnville Regional on Wednesday.

The Wildcats (34-7) put the only run on the scoreboard when Kramer Lindell hit a home run over the left-field fence with one out. 2013 D3Baseball.com and ABCA Pitcher of the Year Chris Haddeland allowed just four hits and struck out three to raise his record to 11-1 for Linfield.

The YellowJackets (32-14) got a dominant performance from junior Cody Whitley, who went the distance and held Linfield to six hits. Sean Sellers, Garrett Methvin, Chris Bertram and Caleb Pritchett each had a hit in the loss for LeTourneau. Defensively, in the fifth inning, third baseman Ryan Bertram made a catch tumbling over the short fence along the third-base line.

Linfield opened the game with back-to-back singles with one out before Whitley escaped damage with back-to-back fly outs. The YellowJackets stranded a runner on second in the 4th and third in the 6th  and hit into double plays in the 3rd and 7th. 

The YellowJackets drop to the consolation bracket and will face the loser of the Illinois Wesleyan/California Lutheran game on Thursday at 2 p.m. (CST)/noon (local time).

Fans can follow live stats for the tournament at http://www.linfield.edu/sports/sports-stats/baseball-live-stats.html?sport=bb and live video of the action at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/linfield.portal. The LeTourneau baseball team has its own presence in social media – on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/letubaseball and on Twitter -https://twitter.com/LETU_Baseball with related hashtag #LETUBaseballFamily