Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Baseball
The Bulldogs (17-11, 4-2 CUSA) clinched their third-straight weekend series and second-straight Conference USA series after defeating Kennesaw State (11-17, 3-3 CUSA) with ease in a 9-2 Sunday afternoon victory at the Love Shack.
Tech dropped game one of the series 6-1 before coming back and winning these second game Saturday by a score of 7-3.
“I’m extremely proud of our guys finding a way to win this series,” said head coach Lane Burroughs. “I challenged them yesterday after Game 1 in the dugout, said I was tired of people coming in here and pushing us around and they answered the bell in Game 2 and again today.”
On Sunday, freshman Brooks Roberson retired the first seven Owls at the plate, Kennesaw State drew a pair of walks, hit into a fielder’s choice and knocked in a run on a base hit to strike first for a 1-0 lead through three innings. After leaving the bases loaded without allowing run in the top half, the Bulldogs put two across to take the lead over the Owls in the fourth.
Garrison Berkley and Michael Ballard started the frame with a double and a single before Eli Berch slapped a two-out knock through the left side of the Owls infield to even the score. After Trey Hawsey drew a walk to load the bases, Ballard came across to score via wild pitch from the Kennesaw State pitcher and give the ‘Dogs a 2-1 lead heading into the fifth. Tech would add five runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth and never look back in the win.
Roberson earned his third win of the year to improve his record to 3-1 on the mound. Three of Forsythe’s four outs recorded came as a strikeout, followed by Landon Fontenot tossing 2 2/3 innings of perfect baseball with a pair of strikeouts to close the game.
In the Game 2 win, Luke Cooley dominated, tossing eight scoreless frames before allowing two unearned runs in the ninth. He recorded 10 strikeouts, which is the most by a Bulldog since Ryan Jennings struck out 10 against Old Dominion on May 26, 2022. He also tossed the most scoreless innings since Cade Gibson tossed eight no-run frames against FIU on March 26, 2022.
“Luke told us in the sixth inning he was tired,” said Burroughs. “I just thought the swings he was getting-you can’t take him out. He’s getting outs and he wanted it. Unfortunately, the young man got on, and even on that it wasn’t a good swing. You have to do right by the kid, he’s got a lot of ball left to play in front of him and you can’t leave him out there to die. But I tip my hat to him, that was the ultimate gem right there.”
The Bulldogs look to start a five-game slate in the upcoming week, starting with midweek road tests against LSU in Baton Rouge on Tuesday and UL-Lafayette on Wednesday. First pitch against the Tigers is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT at Alex Box Stadium.
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Softball
Louisiana Tech softball split its double header with Western Kentucky on Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs won game one 8-4 before falling 5-2 to the Hilltoppers in the series finale. Tech lost Friday’s opener 8-0.
LA Tech moves to 21-13 (8-4 CUSA) after going 1-2 against WKU in the series and sits in a three-way tie for second place in the league.
“I’m disappointed in losing the series and I know our players are too, but at the same time I am proud of their fight,” said head coach Josh Taylor. “There were windy conditions and it’s not a controllable, but I am just proud of their fight. At 8-4 right now in conference, we’re right where we want to be. We are just going to have to finish strong down the stretch.”
On Saturday, Redshirt sophomore first baseman Reagan Marchant had a career day at the dish as she hit three home runs on the day with two coming in the first game, followed by one more in game two. She finished the day with four hits and five RBI across the two games.
Alexis Gilio joined Marchant with four hits as she collected two base knocks in both games today. Allie Furr had three hits in game one, while Nicole Hammoude posted four RBI in game one after hitting a go-ahead grand slam with two outs in the top of the sixth.
Allie Floyd earned the win in relief in game one and moves to 16-6 on the season after logging 4.0 innings of work while allowing one run on six hits to pair with three strikeouts.
Alyssa Martin took the loss in game two and moves to 1-3 on the season after allowing four runs on three hits in 2.1 innings of action.
The Bulldogs will be back in action on Wednesday evening as they travel to Lafayette to take on ULL. The first pitch from Yvette Girouard Field at Lamson Park is set for 6:00 p.m.
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Tennis
Louisiana Tech was one point away from clinching its first ever win over in-state foe Tulane, but the Bulldogs ended up dropping a 4-3 heartbreak to the Green Wave on Sunday at the City Park Tennis Center.
LA Tech (12-8) grabbed the doubles point and got two quick singles wins, but Tulane (10-9), who has been ranked as high as No. 61 in the country, won four singles matches to pull off the comeback.
The Bulldogs got off to a 1-0 start thanks to a pair of doubles wins on courts one and three. Ana Rodrigues and Zoie Epps teamed up to defeat the pairing of Campbell Ricci and Leigh Van Zyl 6-4 at the No. 1 spot. Then there was the duo of Mio Kozaki and Nina Skoric who bested Natalia Fantini and Jiayun Zhu 6-2 at No. 3.
The Green Wave evened the match up at 1-1 following a straight-sets win on court five. However, Epps and Kozaki both dominated by exact scores of 6-2, 6-1 to give the Bulldogs a 3-1 advantage, needing just one point to take the victory.
For Epps, it was overpowering effort versus Summer Chandler at No. 2 for her seventh straight victory and team-leading 18th victory overall this spring. For Kozaki, it was arguably her best effort of the spring cruising to a win over Micah Pierce at No. 4, this after her last seven matches went unfinished.
Tulane stormed back though, getting wins on courts one, three, and six to edge out LA Tech.
