Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
The Bulldogs handled business again Wednesday night by taking down the Nicholls Colonels, 10-0, for a second-straight seven-inning run-rule shutout.
Tech defeated the Colonels 19-0 in seven innings on Tuesday night.
It was the first time the Bulldogs recorded consecutive shutouts since shutting out Army and Creighton on March 1 and 2 during the 2024 season. It is the first time shutting out the same opponent in consecutive games since the ‘Dogs did it against Tulane on March 19 and March 20 during the 2021 season.
“29-0 these last two nights is a good recipe for winning, and it comes at a much-needed time,” said head coach Lane Burroughs. “We’ve been scuffling a little bit-we talked about it last night, talked about it with our team the other day that this is nothing new to us. It seems like every year we’ve been 6-5, 5-4 or whatever [to start the season], and we needed these two wins. Double midweeks are tough.”
Luke Nichols shined again on the home mound in his start, tossing five scoreless innings allowing just one walk and two hits with a pair of strikeouts. His performance was the third time since arriving to Ruston that he threw at least five innings with no runs allowed.
Tech jumped to a 2-0 lead in the opening frame after Sebastian Mexico opened up with a two-run base hit with the bases loaded. The Bulldogs then exploded for six runs in the second. After Trey Hawsey drew a walk to lead off the inning, Will Safford reached on a fielder’s choice before the Nicholls shortstop overthrew his second baseman to attempt the force out on Hawsey. The ball went wide and allowed the runners to advance to second and third with no outs.
Cade Patterson drove in both of those runs on a base hit up the middle before a bunt single by Garrison Berkley and a walk by Colton Coates loaded the bases for Tech yet again. Zeb Ruddell then delivered a pair of runs on a base hit before Safford drew a bases-loaded walk to make it an 8-0 game.
Safford extended the advantage to nine runs after a groundout in the fourth before Coates walked it off and secured the run-rule victory in the seventh.
Landon Fontenot recorded his first collegiate appearance and strikeout after relieving Nichols in the sixth inning.
The Bulldogs close out their nine-game homestand with a three-game weekend series against South Alabama, with the series opener slated for a 4 p.m. CT first pitch on Friday, March 7 at the Love Shack.
