Staff report
(Cue Willie Nelson)
“On the road again.
Just can’t wait to get on that road again.”
Seriously, the Louisiana Tech baseball squad cannot wait to get on the road again.
Owners of the longest active road-winning streak in the country, and fresh off a sweep at Middle Tennessee, the Diamond ‘Dogs have made the long trek to Miami to face FIU for four games in three days.
LA Tech is in the midst of a nine-game road swing. And the Diamond ‘Dogs do not mind at all.
The No. 14-ranked team in the nation has racked up lots of wins away from home, including a current streak of 10 straight.
Want more gaudy numbers? The ‘Dogs are 11-1 in conference road games, have won 15 of their last 16 road games and are 15-4 in all road games this season, which is the third-best winning percentage in the land.
In LA Tech’s (32-11, 18-6 C-USA) last series, they held off the Blue Raiders late to win game one, 9-7. In the doubleheader, they got a complete game shutout from Ryan Jennings and a heroic blast from Taylor Young to claim victories of 1-0 and 5-4, respectively. Then the ‘Dogs jumped on Middle Tennessee early and rode the arms of Jarret Whorff and Kyle Crigger to break out the brooms, winning 6-1.
The Bulldogs keep winning, which means they keep staying atop the West Division. But, Southern Miss refuses to go away as the rival is only a game and a half back in the standings with two league series remaining.
LA Tech takes its talents down to South Beach to face an FIU (17-27, 8-16 C-USA) squad that just finished a stretch of eight straight games against its rival, Florida Atlantic.
“When you look at them, they have great players,” said head coach Lane Burroughs. “They have a lot of professional prospects and are in a hotbed. You do not have to go far to find really good players.
“They are going to come at us. I think our league is so competitive and so good right now that it is week to week. You have got to bring it every week, and you have to hope you are a little better than the other team you are playing.”
The Panthers went 2-6 against the Owls, winning one game on the road in Boca Raton before taking game two of this past weekend’s home series, 6-1.
You will see the usual suspects on the mound for the Bulldogs. Undefeated Jonathan Fincher takes the ball on at 6 p.m. today The Saturday doubleheader, starting at 1 p.m., will feature the arms of Jennings and Cade Gibson. Then the Sunday finale at 1 p.m. will go to Whorff who sports a team-high eight dubs.
All four games will stream live on CUSA.tv. Fans can listen to the Voice of the Bulldogs Dave Nitz on KNBB 97.7 FM or the LA Tech Athletics app.
