From Staff Reports
Louisiana Tech baseball swept its 3-game Conference USA series against Jacksonville State this weekend while the Bulldog softball team took two out of three in a battle of two of the teams tied atop the league standings.
Baseball
Head coach Lane Burroughs and the Bulldogs (20-6, 3-0) won by scores of 12-8, 9-4 and 5-1 to open Conference USA action with a perfect 3-0 record.
Tech sits alone in first place as the only undefeated team in the league through two weeks of the conference season.
“We didn’t strike out today, which is huge,” said Tech head coach Lane Burroughs following Sunday’s win. “From a pitching standpoint, we didn’t walk a lot of people all weekend. Our guys made pitches in crucial and high-level situations all weekend. Today, most of our damage was done with two outs.”
Cole McConnell had a weekend to remember for the Bulldogs, recording six hits — including four home runs — and driving in eight RBI over the three-game sweep. All four of McConnell’s home runs — he now has 10 on the season — came in Saturday’s doubleheader sweep, including three in Tech’s 9-4 win in game two of the day.
McConnell’s first three at bats in the nightcap resulted in a 2-run home run in the first, a 2-run home run in the third and a solo home run in the fifth as Tech built an early 6-0 lead and then cruised to the win thanks to a solid effort on the mound from Reed Smith, Grant Hubka and Connor Nation.
Game one on Saturday saw Tech explode for 12 runs in the first five innings as the Dogs built a 12-1 lead and then held on for the 12-8 victory. Tech used home runs from McConnell, Ethan Bates and Jorge Corona.
Luke Nichols was solid in the start, picking up the win while Ethan Bates was credited with a save.
Grant Comeaux and Kasten Furr each recorded big RBI hits in Sunday’s win as the Bulldogs once again took an early lead.
Tanner Swistak was solid on the mound in picking up the victory, while Bates and Sam Brodersen tossed 4.0 innings of scoreless relief.
Tech hosts ULM on Tuesday.
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Softball
In the marquee Conference USA match-up of the weekend, the Bulldogs (22-6, 7-2 CUSA) won two out of three against WKU (20-10-1, 6-3 CUSA) at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field.
Tech won the opener 5-3 before falling 6-5 in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader. The Bulldogs then won the rubber game 10-4 on Sunday.
With the victories, Tech (22-6, 7-2) is in a two-way tie for first place in the Conference USA standings with Liberty.
In Sunday’s finale, Tech trailed 3-1 before Nicole Hammoude’s 3-run bomb over the left field fence ignited a game-ending 9-1 run by the Bulldogs.
“That was a huge momentum swing and we kept that momentum the rest of the game,” said head coach Josh Taylor. “She got her barrel out and hit the ball a long way. The three-run homer to take the lead was huge for us to allow us to get some confidence and energy which we were able to sustain for the rest of the game.”
Coming into the weekend, WKU’s boasted the second-best team ERA in the league (behind only LA Tech), but the Bulldogs plated 20 earned runs in just 19 innings against four Hilltopper arms.
Tech’s 10 runs on Sunday came on 10 hits.
Allie Floyd picked up a pair of wins in the circle to bring her CUSA leading total up to 11 on the year. Floyd went the distance in the 5-3 win in game one Saturday, limiting the league’s top rated offense to just four hits in 7.0 innings.
She came back on Sunday and picked up the win in relief, allowing just one run over the final 4.0 innings of action. Brook Melnychuk got the start Sunday and worked 3.0 innings, allowing three runs.
In Saturday’s game one win, Tech used a 4-run third inning to take a 4-1 lead. After WKU cut the advantage to 4-3, Kylie Neel added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth with her second home run of the season.
Tech fell 6-5 in the second game of the doubleheader as WKU plated 5 runs in the second inning. Freshman Mattison Buster came on in relief, and worked 5.0 innings allowing just one run and keeping the Bulldogs in the game.
Tech plated three runs in the bottom of the seventh and had the tying run and second and winning run on first when the game-ending double play was recorded.
Claire Raley led Tech with seven hits and four runs scored over the weekend while Alexis Gilio added five hits and five runs scored.
Tech hosts Grambling State Tuesday at 6 p.m.
