Texas leaves Bulldogs stranded

The hits kept coming for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, but runs were scarce in a 5-2 loss at the hands of No. 1 seed Texas at the Austin Regional Saturday night.

The Bulldogs out-hit the Longhorns 13-11 but left 13 runners on base. Texas broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh by bunching together six straight hits to score three runs, seize control of the game and send Tech (43-20) into an elimination game.

“We just couldn’t get the big hit when we needed it, and they did,” Tech head coach Lane Burroughs said. “That’s a good team over there. We had some innings set up, but credit their guys. We’ve got to get the big hit like they did.”

What may be even more surprising than the Horns’ late rally is who they rallied against.

Burroughs inserted Tech closer Kyle Crigger in the seventh in an attempt to put the Dogs into the regional championship.

Crigger, who pitched 65 1/3 innings this season without giving up six hits in any appearance, gave up six straight base knocks to absorb the loss on the mound.

“Haven’t seen that all year,” Burroughs said. “I’m not sure if he was tipping his pitches or what. They laid off some really good change-ups and made some good swings on some sliders.”

The inning started off innocuously enough with Crigger striking out Trey Faltine. Douglas Hodo III began the barrage with a single, followed by consecutive hits by Eric Kennedy, Ivan Melendez, Murphy Stehly, Austin Todd and an RBI double by Skyler Messinger.

The Bulldogs tried to rally and finally scratched another run across in the top of the eighth when Logan McLeod doubled, Taylor Young singled and Philip Matulia cut the lead to 4-2 with an RBI groundout.

Texas quickly answered in the bottom half of the frame with a double by Faltine and a sacrifice fly by Mitchell Daly off Tech reliever Ryan Harland.

Tristan Stevens, who entered the game in the sixth inning for Texas (44-19), picked up the win and also closed out the Dogs in the ninth.

“We just got beat by a really good team,” Burroughs said. “But we’ll be back tomorrow (Sunday); we aren’t going anywhere. You know what these players mean to me, to my family, to my life, to my career. We don’t want it to end. We’ll show up and play with everything we’ve got.”

Tech will have their chance at redemption Sunday at 1 p.m. against Air Force, which eliminated Dallas Baptist 5-1 Saturday.

The winner will meet the Longhorns again to decide the regional champion.

The loss overshadowed a stellar performance by Tech starter Ryan Jennings, who held the Horns at bay for six innings. He gave up three hits and one solo home run and struck out five.

He was also involved in a bit of an uprising early in the game. After Dylan Campbell touched them all for a 1-0 Texas lead, Faltine was hit by a Jennings breaking pitch and became enraged and insinuated Jennings threw at him on purpose.

Texas coach David Pierce complained to the umpires and a warning was issued to Jennings, which prompted Burroughs to come out of the dugout to defend his player.

“I don’t know what the ruckus was about, really,” Burroughs said. “This is Texas; you’ve got to pitch inside. Otherwise we should just set it on a tee for them and go home.”

The Bulldogs tied the game 1-1 in the fourth off Texas starter Lucas Gordon. Walker Burchfield led off with a double down the right field line and McLeod laid down a sacrifice bunt to move him over to third.

Wade Elliott singled up the middle to plate Burchfield with the tying run.

Five Bulldogs registered two hits apiece on the night, including Burchfield, McLeod and Elliott at the bottom of the lineup. Young and Steele Netterville also had a pair of hits each.

If the Dogs upend Air Force, they will play Texas at 7 p.m. Sunday. A win by Texas would move the Horns into the super regional round. Two Sunday wins by Tech would force a deciding regional championship game on Monday.