By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON — Heroic performances by Dalton Davis at the plate and Sam Brodersen on the mound helped Louisiana Tech stave off elimination Friday night win a 5-3 win over Sam Houston State in the 2024 Conference USA Championships.
It was the Bulldogs’ second game of the day after falling to Liberty earlier 6-2.
Davis finished the night with a pair of home runs and three RBIs, while Brodersen pitched 3.1 innings and struck out five batters. Senior closer Ethan Bates came to the mound in the top of the eighth to get his nation-leading 16th save of the year.
“I’m just so proud of our guys,” Burroughs said. “It was a a grind all day, and it was a fight. We didn’t particularly play great baseball today. We picked a bad day not to play really good, but we found a way to win. I thought (Brodersen) was the key — that’s an alpha dog right there. I went and took the ball from him when we pulled him, and I said ‘you’re going to be pitching next week because of what you just did.’ I’m proud of him.
“(Davis) has been kind of scuffling a little bit; he didn’t play great last weekend, but he’s a great hitter and he found a way to get it done tonight. The two home runs were huge.”
After a tie game through six innings, Davis hit his second homer of the night in the bottom of the seventh inning — a 357-foot solo shot over the left field wall to give a 4-3 lead. Senior Michael Ballard followed shortly after with a double to right center that scored senior catcher Jorge Corona to extend it to a 5-3 lead.
After both teams struggled to score early, Davis finally put runs on the board with a 382-foot home run over the left field wall in the bottom of the third inning, scoring senior shortstop Kasten Furr to give Tech a 2-0 lead. Senior Michael Ballard would drive in another run with a single up the middle to score senior outfielder Cole McConnell.
“My first at bat, he was throwing me a lot of fastballs, and I felt like I was on time,” Davis said of his home runs after the game. “I was getting under it a little bit, and eventually I found the slot and hit it good. The second one — the pitcher threw a lot of sliders. I was still out in front a little bit, but I kept the hands back enough to get it pretty good.”
Senior Grant Hubka opened with shaky top of the first by walking two batters on 4-0 counts, but stellar defensive plays by freshman Grant Comeaux with a diving catch on a well-struck line drive and a throw-out to second by senior catcher Jorge Corona on a double-steal helped get the starter out of a jam. Corona would follow with another throw-out on a steal in the top of the second.
Settling in afterward, it would be in the top of the fourth before Hubka gave up his first hit of the night on a triple to center field as the ball barely missed McConnell’s glove, allowing senior Jeffrey David for the Bearkats to get to third with one out.
Broderson came in to relieve Hubka after the starter loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fifth. Broderson would walk the first batter he faced, giving SHSU its first run of the night and cutting the lead to 3-1. Two more Bearkats would score in the inning to tie the game at 3-3.
“(Hubka) gave us a great start, so I wanted to go out here and give the offense a chance to keep working,” Broderson said. “Obviously, it tied back up when I went out there, but after that, it was just one thing at a time. We wanted to let the offense work — keep us in the game. We’re an old team and a veteran team, and we’ve got really good hitters, so I knew we were going to break through eventually.”
Tech had a chance to score runs in the bottom of the fifth after getting both senior Ethan Bates and McConnell to second and third base, respectively, with no outs. The Bulldogs, unfortunately, would have all three ensuing batters retired on a pair of infield pop ups and a inning-ending strikeout.
“I could have eaten concrete,” Burroughs said about not scoring in the fifth. “It’s probably as mad as I’ve been all year. I tried to stay composed and the players stayed composed. We didn’t get it done; it was frustrating, and it was that sort of day. We had opportunity after opportunity, but at the end of the day, we found a way to win this one.”
Brodersen would go on to retire six consecutive batters in the sixth and seventh innings for Tech, including four consecutive strikeouts.
Tech will have a rematch with Liberty Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at J.C. Love Field. If Tech wins, they will play Liberty a third time at 7 p.m. for a chance to play in the conference title game Sunday.
