Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Softball
Behind a season-high 13 runs, 13 hits and four home runs, the Louisiana Tech Softball team defeated UTEP 13-2 to win its sixth-straight game and sweep the series at Helen of Troy Softball Complex.
Tech (29-18, 11-7) won Friday’s game 10-7 and Saturday’s contest 7-2 and outscored the Miners 30-11 during the three-game series. The Lady Techsters are tied for fourth in the C-USA standings — only 1.5 games out of first place — with league leader Charlotte coming to town this coming weekend.
Mary Martinez made the start and was impressive during her four innings in the circle. The freshman allowed just one run on three hits and struck out five.
Offensively, Kylie Neel led the way with a home run, a double, and four RBI. Amanda Gonzalez and Katelin Cooper both went 2-4 with two RBI. Cooper (2-run HR), Neel (solo HR), Jordyn Manning (2-run HR), and Caroline Easom (solo HR) all hit home runs in the contest.
LA Tech is on a six-game winning streak and is now 29-18 overall and 11-7 in Conference USA play. Tech is tied for fourth in the Conference USA standings with the win today and sits a game and a half back of first-place Charlotte.
Allie Floyd, Brook Melnychuk, and Martinez each picked up wins in the circle during the series while Neel and Cooper each hit two home runs. Bailey Wright recorded three doubles in three games.
Baseball
Louisiana Tech ran into some bad luck and a good team on the road, an unfortunate combination that led to a three-game sweep at the hands of Dallas Baptist, Conference USA’s leader in hitting, fielding, and pitching.
After dropping Friday’s opener 9-1, the Bulldogs were swept, 11-3 and 10-5, Saturday before 1,367 on an afternoon that began in the 70s and ended on a cool and breezy evening at Horner Ballpark. Because of the rain forecast Sunday, the clubs played two Saturday.
Tech came in on a four-game win streak but is now 20-21 and 9-9. Dallas Baptist, 31-9, 15-3, has won 14 straight and has not lost since March 31 when Tech beat the Patriots in Ruston.
Leaders in CUSA, DBU and UTSA have won a combined 60 games overall and 30 in league play with a month to go in the regular season.
Tech remains on the road next week with a single game Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Southern Miss, then three CUSA games at Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro beginning Friday at 6 p.m. Tech is scheduled to be back in Pat Patterson Park at J.C. Love Field Tuesday, May 2 against Northwestern State.
Football
The Louisiana Tech Football team concluded its spring ball slate with the conclusion of the spring game Saturday at Joe Aillet Stadium following the groundbreaking ceremony of the Sarah and A.L. Williams Champions Plaza at 10 a.m. outside the northeast corner of the stadium.
The Spring Game pitted the offense against the defense with a modified scoring system. The defense began the scrimmage with a goal line stand by forcing and recovering a fumble, but in the end, the offense outpaced the defense, 54-27.
“Our guys came out and competed today. I’m really encouraged with these guys,” said head coach Sonny Cumbie. “There are a lot of areas we can get better at, but the growth we have had over these 15 practices is a testament to the intent they have had each day to improve.
“Our QBs made plays today, extended plays with their legs, and kept plays alive, especially when we were in negative situations. So I’ve been pleased with both and where we are right now, but now it is about the progress we can make over June and July before Fall camp.”
LA Tech will open the 2023 season at home with a Conference USA matchup against FIU inside Joe Aillet Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 26. The Week Zero game will be the first of six home games in Ruston for the Bulldogs, including a non-conference in-state matchup with Northwestern State (Sep. 9).
North Texas on Sep. 16 will be the first of four C-USA tilts, followed by WKU making the trip from Bowling Green on Thursday, Oct. 5. New conference mates New Mexico State (Oct. 24) and Sam Houston (Nov. 11) will also visit the Joe, with Sam Houston serving as 2023’s Homecoming game.
Tech will make two non-conference road trips beginning on Sep. 2 to SMU and Nebraska three weeks later, on Sep. 23. The Bulldogs’ first C-USA road test will take place in El Paso against UTEP (Sep. 29) before visiting Middle Tennessee on Oct. 10. Tech will play two of its final three games on the road against new C-USA against Liberty (Nov. 4) and Jacksonville State on Nov. 18 to wrap up the regular season slate.
Kick times and the broadcast schedule will be announced at a later date.
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Track and Field
Louisiana Tech men’s and women’s Track & Field teams registered twelve PRs Saturday at the LSU Alumni Gold in Baton Rouge.
On the track, Kayla Watson and Nike Praetzel started things off in the women’s 100m H by registering their collegiate bests with times of 14.04 and 14.38, respectively. In the men’s 400m, Desmyn McCall ran the best outdoor time of his career with a 53.53.
Rodney Heath Jr. continues to etch his name in the LA Tech record books tying the third fastest time in the men’s outdoor 100m with a 10.22 to grab a top-10 finish out of 51 athletes. Heath Jr. has three of the top five times in program history, including the program record of 10.12 from earlier this season in Austin at the Texas Relays.
In the women’s 200m, all three Lady Techsters that competed ran their personal bests in the event. Chanel Honeywell ran a 24.79, Faith Tarver posted a 24.91, and Nike Praetzel notched a 25.62.
On the men’s side of the 200m, Jamie Sancho posted a personal best of 20.98 and Heath Jr. added a PR with a run of 21.17.
Tech added four PRs in Saturday’s field events, including two in the women’s discus. Elizabeth Sebera threw a 42.41m (139′ 1”), and Shania Parkinson threw a 42.12 (138′ 2”), which was good for eighth and ninth place, respectively.
In the men’s javelin, Tyler O’con grabbed fourth place with a personal best of 60.77m (199′ 4”), while Tim Fitzgerald grabbed sixth place with a PR of 16.49m (54′ 1.25”) in the men’s shot put.
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Tennis
On an overcast Saturday with cold, gusty winds at the Waranch Tennis Complex, Louisiana Tech came up short in the semifinals of the Conference USA Women’s Tennis Championship, falling 4-0 to top-seeded FIU.
No. 4-seeded LA Tech (20-6) had been playing some its best doubles of the season, and that showed against the 38th-ranked team in the country in FIU (17-4) who had two tandems nationally ranked.
The duo of Olga Bienzobas and Alexia Romero got down 0-3 early to 75th-ranked Yasmine Kabbaj/Oyinlomo Quandre on court two. But, the Lady Techsters fought back to ultimately win in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (3).
With the Panthers taking court three, the opening point came down to court one where Ana Rodrigues and Najah Dawson were battling the 79th-ranked duo of Kamila Umarova and Ekaterina Khairutdinova. The LA Tech tandem fought back from down 4-5 to go up 6-5, but FIU ended up winning in a tiebreaker, 6-7 (4).
Singles proved to be a challenge as LA Tech got down a set on all six courts. However, the squad kept battling. At the time when the Panthers clinched the match with straight-set victories on courts three, five and six, Bienzobas and Leonie Schuknecht were about to split sets on courts one and two.
After dropping the first set, 1-6, Bienzobas was up 6-5 in the second versus Khairutdinova. Schuknecht’s match played out similarly, getting down 1-6 but had three set points lined up at 5-4 before the match was stopped.
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Golf
The Louisiana Tech golf team makes the two hour drive to Texarkana, Arkansas where they will compete in the 2023 Conference USA Men’s Golf Championship.
The 10-team, four-day event will be held at the Texarkana Country Club and fans can follow the results at http://www.golfstat.com.
LA Tech heads into the C-USA Championship as the No. 4 seed after finishing the regular season with the fourth highest ranking in the league.
The Bulldogs have had three weeks of preparation having last played in the Mossy Oak Collegiate where they finished 16th as a team. Prior to that, LA Tech had posted three top-10 finishes in three of the previous four events.
James Swash continues to anchor the ‘Dogs with a stroke average of 73.48. He enters the postseason as the sixth-ranked golfer in C-USA, hoping to rekindle last season’s performance at the championship where he finished tied for seventh as an individual (shot the lowest round of any player with a 66).
Thomas Henson, who has the second-best stroke average on the team with a 74.10 and has four top-20 finishes, is ranked 13th in the conference. Henson has played in all 10 events this season, as has Lake Juban who is ranked 25th in the league and has a stroke average of 74.67.
Rounding out the lineup is Hunter Battles who will compete in his ninth event and has a stroke average of 75.25 and Will Patrick who is back in the field having not played since the Border Olympics in early February.
