by Malcolm Butler
Preseason predictions are meaningless in most ways.
So Josh Taylor and Co. will ignore all the hype surrounding their team when Louisiana Tech opens the 2026 season today at the Black and Gold Challenge hosted by Southern Miss.
The Bulldogs will play four games in three days, starting with today’s 11:30 a.m. opener against Lipscomb. Tech will play UAB (9 a.m.) and SEMO (11:30 a.m.) on Saturday before wrapping up the tournament Sunday against the host Golden Eagles (9 a.m.).
Sunday’s game against USM will be on ESPN+.
Tech was tabbed second in the preseason Conference USA Coaches Poll while senior Allie Floyd was tabbed Pitcher of the Year and junior Reagan Marchant was named the Player of the Year.
However, when the first pitch is thrown this morning, none of that will matter.
“There is a lot of discovery that will happen in our non-conference portion of the schedule this year,” said Taylor. “We are young. We are talented. We have a good mix and some veterans we can really look to early in the year.”
Tech is coming off it’s third straight 32-win season and is four years removed from capturing its last CUSA title in 2022. The Bulldogs lost key contributors to graduation in Alexis Gilio, Claire Railey, and Nicole Hammoude but Taylor is excited about his 10-person class of newcomers.
“We have a lot of options, and I am really excited about the position our players have put me in,” said Taylor. “I do think we have a lot of options, especially offensively.”
Marchant is coming off a record-breaking season that saw the University of South Carolina transfer belt a program record 18 home runs in her first year in a Bulldog uniform.
Floyd has been the ace of the Tech pitching staff since her freshman season, and the three-time all-conference selection has logged almost 500 career innings and is coming off a 22-win campaign as a junior.
Defensively, Tech is anchored in the outfield by Rawling’s Gold Glove defender Elena Heng, who moves over to centerfield after winning the honor in left field as a freshman.
