Brooms for the Bulldogs
Bulldogs Grant Comeaux (14) and Thaxton Berch (2) celebrate a win over Northwestern State this weekend at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park. Photo courtesy of Louisiana Tech
Six batters for Louisiana Tech tallied multiple hits on Sunday to secure a series sweep over Northwestern State with a 15-5 win over the Demons.
Tech ( 16- 5) had 15 runs on 19 hits while the Demons earned 5 runs on 7 hits and 2 errors on Sunday afternoon at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park.
Tech’s offense started hot with a 2-run homer from Dalton Davis, his 4th of the year. Ethan Bates gave the Bulldogs back-to-back home runs after he hit his 4th homer of the season as well on a launch to right field.
Tech closed out the first inning with a 3-0 lead over the Demons. Northwestern State struck with a homer to left- center field from Daniel Burroway in the top of the second, making it a 3-1 game.
Louisiana Tech’s bats struck again after scoring 5 runs in the bottom of the second inning, starting with a Cole Mc-Connell (3-for-5, 2 RBIs) RBI single scored Kasten Furr to make the game 4-1 in the Bulldogs’ favor.
Bates (3-for-6, 3 RBIs) earned an RBI single to score McConnell, while Jorge Corona ( 4- for- 5, 3 RBIs) earned himself an RBI after he scored Davis in the inning, putting Tech up 6-1. Michael Ballard walked, which led Bates to score due to a passed ball.
Logan McLeod (2-for-4, RBI) also earned an RBI with a single up the middle, advancing Corona to home to extend Tech’s lead to 8-1.
Eventually, Tech scored two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, with help from Bates’ RBI single and an Adarius Myers sac fly RBI, while the lead grew to 10-1.
Afterward, the Demons scored 5 runs in the sixth on a two-RBI double, an RBI double, and an RBI single, cutting the score to 10-5.
Tech answered back to extend its lead from a bases-loaded HBP RBI from McConnell, while Davis tallied a 2- run double and Corona earning a sac fly RBI to get the score to 14-5.
Corona’s RBI double ended the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, resulting in the 15-5 score.
Reed Smith went 2 2/3 innings of work on the mound for the Bulldogs, striking out 5 of the 11 batters he faced. Turner Swistak had 5 1/ 3 innings of work while having 6 strikeouts – the longest outing of any Tech pitcher this season.
Davis, with his 5-hit day, became the first player since Manny Garcia against Southern Miss in May of 2021 to have 5 hits in a game.
“ I’m proud of our guys, obviously, a sweep against a good team, but don’t let their record fool you. Northwestern State is good and more than capable of winning a lot of games,” Tech head coach Lane Burroughs said. “We had the delay, some rain, and fight through some elements, which you worry about the mindset of a team when that happens. I thought our guys came out smoking and made a statement with three and five runs. Our topfive hitters, when we get our guys rolling like that lineup becomes nasty.”
Louisiana Tech travels to Baton Rouge tonight in a midweek match-up against the No. 5 LSU Tigers. First pitch will be at 6:30 p.m. at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field. L SU is coming off a series loss on the road at Mississippi State.
