By Malcolm Butler
In the first inning of Louisiana Tech’s 4-0 win over Charlotte in the opening day of the 2022 Conference USA Tournament in Hattiesburg last week, Bulldog outfielder Adarius Myers belted a two-run home run deep over the left field fence at Pete Taylor Park.
As Myers crossed home plate, he was met by his Bulldog teammates and his brand new boom box.
Wait, what?
Yes, boom box. Or as head coach Lane Burroughs calls it, a “jam box.”
“We called it a jam box in my day,” said the Tech skipper.
Myers said he acquired the mammoth acoustic device just prior to the trip to Hattiesburg.
“I wanted a speaker for a while,” said Myers. “I kept on getting ads for boom boxes popping up on my Instagram and social media accounts. So, one day I was sitting in the locker room and decided to just buy it. I bought it because they had a sale. I got $75 off of it.
“About 15 minutes before we were leaving to go to Hattiesburg I got the email saying it had come in. So, Phil (Matulia) put me in his (car) and we went to my house and picked it up and put it under the bus. The first time it came out of the box was in the hotel room in Hattiesburg.”
The boom box has quickly become an integral part of the Bulldogs road trips and gamedays.
“I think it keeps everyone loose,” said Matulia. “We play it on the bus. We play it coming off the bus. Before games. After games. I think it makes everyone stay loose. That’s how we get our mojo going into games.”
Said boom box is 4-1 in Bulldog games, including a perfect 1-0 mark in C-USA Championship games. Rumors are it may have blared a little “We are the champions” by Queen following Tech’s 9-8 walk-off win over UTSA Sunday.
True or not, it was definitely blaring something according to Burroughs.
“I went in the locker room (after the championship game) to get showered up,” said Burroughs. “They always separate the coaches and players – the coaches always have their own locker room – but our locker room was right there.
“Adarius has been carrying around this jam box recently. I didn’t know they still made those things. But it is the loudest jam box I’ve ever heard in my life. He had that thing cranked up so loud in that locker room. I walked by and the guys were having a blast with it.”
After all of its success in Hattiesburg, the boom box made its way on the bus to Austin for this weekend’s NCAA Regional. Myers said although controls his new acoustic traveling partner, he doesn’t dictate all of the tunes during the trip.
“We do song requests,” said Myers. “Usually when we get on the bus, I have something I want to hear first. And then its just guys sending in requests. We just play whatever.”
Well, almost whatever.
When asked what he would request, Burroughs showed his age.
“Maybe a little Van Halen,” he said.
Myers response to his skipper’s request?
“I will play whatever, but I don’t even know who that is,” Myers laughed.
The Bulldogs will open play against Dallas Baptist Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Tech fans can turn their own boom box to 97.7 FM or listen on the the LA Tech Athletics app to hear Dave Nitz provide a call of the game.
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Listen to Talkin’ w/ Teddy featuring Adarius Myers and Phil Matulia: https://bit.ly/3x2e15T
