Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Baseball
The Diamond ‘Dogs (14-10, 2-1 CUSA) return to Ruston after taking down Sam Houston (7-17, 1-2 CUSA) in a Sunday rubber match, 9-7, at Don Sanders Stadium to clinch the opening series of Conference USA play.
Tech won Friday’s opener 6-5 before dropping the second game of the series on Saturday 7-4.
On Sunday, LA Tech applied pressure from the very first pitch of the ball game after Colton Coates drew a four-pitch walk to lead off. Garrison Berkley then came up and drew a 2-0 count before a mound visit was called by Sam Houston.
After the meeting was over, the Bearkat pitcher battled back to a full count against Berkley before the Bulldog outfielder belted a ball over the left field wall for his first homer as a ‘Dog and give Tech an early 2-0 lead.
With Tech leading 4-1, Berkley’s bat stayed hot as he led off the third with a solo blast to extend Tech’s lead to 5-1. With his second homer of the day, Berkley is the first Bulldog with multiple homers in a single game since Dalton Davis had two jacks against Sam Houston on May 24, 2024.
After Brooks Roberson retired the Bearkats in order in the third, the fourth inning was quiet for both sides until the fifth when the ‘Dogs added to their lead. Back-to-back base hits from Coates and Berkley and a walk drawn by Michael Ballard loaded the bases with one out as Trey Hawsey came up to bat. On a 3-1 count, the first baseman roped a base hit through the right side of the infield to plate two more runs and give Tech a 7-1 lead going to the bottom of the fifth.
With Tech leading 7-4, the Bulldogs added a run in the seventh after Berkley led off with a double for his fourth hit of the afternoon and Ballard singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. Ballard then moved up to second on a wild pitch. With two outs and a 1-2 count, Ruddell hit a dribbler to the shortstop and was able to just beat out the throw to first, allowing Berkley to score and give the Bulldogs an 8-4 lead going into the seventh inning stretch.
Thaxton Berch, who entered the game earlier in the fifth for a defensive change, his his first collegiate homer putting the ‘Dogs up 9-4 in the top of the eighth. Luke Nichols then entered the game out of the bullpen and retired the Bearkats in order with a pair of strikeouts and a fly out to send the game to the final inning.
Sam Houston plated three runs but Blake Hooks got the final out with the tying runs on base with his third strikeout of the frame.
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Softball
A walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning off the bat of Alexis Gilio aided Louisianan Tech softball to a Conference USA series sweep of Middle Tennessee, as the Bulldogs defeated the Blue Raiders 4-3 on Sunday afternoon at Dr. Billy Bundrick Field.
Tech won Friday’s opener 7-2 behind a career-high 11 strikeouts by Allie Floyd and then earned Saturday’s game 8-7 thanks to a 3-run home run by Gilio that ignited a five-run bottom of the sixth.
The wins mark eight straight victories for the Bulldogs as they improve to 19-11 (7-2 CUSA).
LA Tech outhit MTSU 12-3 on Sunday afternoon, and 35-17 for the series. Allie Furr led the way with three base knocks, while Elena Heng and Gilio collected two apiece. Nicole Hammoude, Reagan Marchant, Addison Snyder, Jina Baffuto, and Karli Sellers all finished with one hit each. Gilio, Hammoude, Marchant, and Baffuto all drove in one run, while Heng came around to score twice, followed by Marchant and Gracie Flores who both crossed home once.
Alyssa Martin made the start in the circle for the Bulldogs and pitched 4.0 quality innings, while allowing just three hits and three runs (one earned), along with three strikeouts. Allie Floyd picked up her 15th win of the season after tossing 3.0 innings of scoreless no-hit softball in relief. Floyd picked up all three wins in this weekend’s series after allowing no hits, no runs, and no walks.
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Tennis
Louisiana Tech needed just two hours to shutout Sam Houston, 4-0, on a sunny Saturday afternoon at the LA Tech Tennis Complex, completing a conference weekend sweep.
Tech defeated New Mexico State 4-2 Friday in what was a heated Conference USA battle.
LA Tech (12-6, 2-0 CUSA) started the day by winning the doubles point and then tacked on three straight-set victories in singles from the top of the lineup to down Sam Houston (4-7, 0-3 CUSA) for a third straight time.
Ana Rodrigues and Zoie Epps teamed up for their 10th dual doubles win, claiming a 6-2 victory on court one. Meanwhile, Mio Kozaki and Nina Skoric found themselves down 0-4 before reeling off six straight games to clinch the doubles point for LA Tech with a 6-4 victory.
Rodrigues, Epps, and Skoric would also provide points in dual singles. Epps had the first finish, cruising to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Christine Jevicky at the No. 2 spot for her team-leading 16th victory of the spring. The 16 wins now ranks tied for the eighth most in a single season in program history.
Her doubles teammate, Rodrigues, was just as dominant. A day after needing a long three-setter to clinch the win over New Mexico State, the senior captain overpowered Nayuma Subba 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 1 position.
Providing the clincher was Skoric who was back in the singles lineup and delivered a 6-2, 6-4 win against Sara Sadadinovic at the No. 3 spot.
When play was stopped, both Kozaki and June Vigneron were up a set on courts four and six, respectively.
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Track and Field
Donald Lamp became the first Louisiana Tech track and field athlete to throw the hammer over 60 meters at the Clyde Hart Classic hosted by Baylor at Clyde Hart Stadium on Saturday.
The junior qualified for the finals in fifth at 52.02m in his first outdoor meet as a Bulldog. The Iowa Western transfer stepped up on his first attempt in the finals to launch a new program record of 60.01m, topping the previous mark of 58.84m set by Malek Evans in 2018. The mark also bested his previous best of 54.82m to finish third at the 2024 NJCAA Division I Outdoor Championships.
Kaitlyn Washington also had a spectacular start to her LA Tech career. The Northwestern State transfer won the discus, placed third in the shot put and set a personal best in the hammer. Her final throw of 48.92m put her on top in the discus, while her third throws of 13.55m in the shot put and 49.38m in the hammer were her final marks.
Maria Ferreiro Pena and Annie Jones set PRs in the javelin at 46.43m and 40.98m, respectively. Pena was 5m further than any other competitor and Jones finished third. Zachary Drake, Tucker McCoy and William Estes took the top three spots on the men’s side. Drake threw 63.75m and McCoy had 54.73m in their first collegiate action.
Demarko Lawler (7.14m) and Cobe Johnson (6.99m) finished second and third in the long jump. A’reil Williams (1.70m, HJ) and Tia Reder (12.16m, TJ) were the other podium finishers in the field events.
Another transfer, Kimeone McLeod took home the win in the 100mH at 13.62. Urijah Williams finished third in the 110mH with a time of 14.53.
The Bulldogs took home the top five spots in the women’s 400m. Osaretin Joy Usenbor set a new PR at 53.47 to win the top spot. Nia Wiley also set a new best at 55.40 to finish third. Jamara Patterson (54.21), Jenaia Williams (55.79) and Faith Tarver (56.60) rounded out the top five.
Mekhi Gammons (47.39, 400m), Nikoby Johnson (10.31, 100m), Tim Rummelhagen (54.46, 400mH) and Abdulraof Rashid (20.86, 200m) were the final individual podium finishers.
The team of Patterson, Usenbor, Jenaia Williams and Wiley won the 4×400 in 3:37.01, while Gammons, Rummelhagen, Laden Tucker and Cullen Hronek took second in the men’s 4×4 at 3:12.89.
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Bowling
The Louisiana Tech bowling team averages 213.7 over 17 games but would fall 2-1 to No. 9 Stephen F. Austin in an elimination match at the Conference USA Championship at Colonial Lanes on Thursday.
The 11th-ranked Bulldogs (83-45) took the opening set 1,039-926. After picking up the 10-pin to open the game, Kylee Trexler connected on 10 of her next 11 shots to lead the way with a 254. Rachel Ong wasn’t far behind with a 223, and Abbie Leiendecker anchored with a 211. Allyson Sand came in to finish a 202 for the other score in the plus for Tech.
The Baker match had both teams averaging over 225, with the point coming down to the final frame. The Ladyjacks took a 25-pin lead after taking the opening game 247-222. SFA increased the lead to 67 after taking games two and three, 229-201 and 204-190. Louisiana Tech started to make a move in game four and cut the deficit in half with a 236-204 win.
The teams started the final game shot for shot and looked to be on their way to both shooting in the 270s. However, SFA would leave the door open with two spares. In the 10th frame, Leiendecker needed to strike out to force the Ladyjack’s anchor to double and get a nine count. She connected on the first two and got an eight count. SFA’s anchor followed suit and tied the match up.
The best-of-seven started with SFA winning another 10thg-frame finish, 221-219. Tech flipped the script in game two, striking out in the 10th for a 199-188 win. The Bulldogs would easily win the next two, 214-149 and 222-187.
Needed to win just one game, LA Tech would only roll four doubles over the next three games. The Bulldogs still had a chance in game five with only one double. The difference would be pin count after spares, as SFA won 204-198. The Ladyjacks would take the final two, 247-225 and 212-192, with both coming down to the end.
