Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Walker Burchfield had a coming out party on enemy turf Tuesday night as the Louisiana Tech first baseman blasted a pair of home runs in an 8-4 win over ULM at Warhawk Field.
Burchfield’s solo blast in the top of the third inning upped the Tech lead to 6-0 and his second solo shot in top of the fifth inning made it 7-1 for the Bulldogs.
“He’s just a good hitter,” said Tech head coach Lane Burroughs. “He has good at-bats. He knows how to evaluate balls and strikes. He takes his walks. When he gets underneath one pull-side we know it’s going out of the ballpark. Those were big hits for us and he will give you some quality at-bats.”
Burchfield also drove in a run in Tech’s 5-run first inning when he was hit by a pitch with the bases full of Bulldogs. Bryce Wallace had a two-run single in that 5-run frame as Tech jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.
“If we don’t have the five-run first we may not win the ball game,” said Burroughs. “We took advantage of the hit-by-pitches, walks and we talk about that all the time. Those are the ingredients of a big inning. That inning was huge. We didn’t swing at bad pitches, we got on base and we kind of got it going.”
Greg Martinez (2-0) got the win for Tech (12-5), allowing no runs on five hits while striking out five in 4.0 innings of action. Tech pitchers combined to strikeout out 14 batters in the win.
LA Tech opens up conference play in San Antonio Friday night against UTSA at 6 p.m.
Golf
Sam Murphy fired a final round 67 and Louisiana Tech shot a team total of four-under-par 284 on Tuesday as the Bulldogs finished seventh among a talented field of 16 teams at the 37th annual Louisiana Classic hosted by UL-Lafayette at Oakbourne Country Club.
Murphy’s final round included five birdies and 13 pars as he shot a 54-hole total of nine-under-par 267 to tie for sixth place among a field of 92 competitors.
The Bulldogs were forced to play with just four players Tuesday as Hunter Battles withdrew due to food poisoning.
“I am proud of the round our guys put together today knowing we were playing without Hunter,” said Tech head coach Matt Terry. “It really shows the character these guys have. Sam played really solid this week. His game continues to improve. It’s now time to get back to Ruston and work to get better before we leave Saturday for Houston.”
James Swash (74-72-74=220, T45th), Mac Murphy (75-75-70=220, T45th), and Lake Juban (70-78-73=221, T49th) were the other three Bulldogs who competed for the team.
No. 21 ranked Texas A&M won the team competition with a tournament record of 47-under-par 817 followed by LSU (829), North Texas (844), Ole Miss (851), Houston (856), Kansas State (857), LA Tech (863), Mississippi State (866), Little Rock (870), UTSA (872), Rice (873), Illinois State (873), Sam Houston (874), UL-Lafayette (877), Lipscomb (889) and Michigan (889).
Tennis
The Lady Techsters will put their program record 12-match winning streak on the line today when they host New Orleans at home at 12 p.m.
LA Tech extended its record-setting winning streak to 12 this past Saturday with a 4-3 victory over Nicholls State, handing the Colonels their first home loss of the season. The squad is now 5-1 this season when matches are decided by one point.
After opening the season with a loss at South Alabama, UNO has won eight of its last 10 matches including a 7-0 shutout over league foe McNeese State this past Saturday.
Photo: Tom Morris
