Old Dogs, New Optimism

The idea of “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” comes with a negative connotation.

It implies stubbornness from the grizzled hound — a lack of change that keeps it from learning something new. Roll over? How about a nap?

That same phrase can be applied to the 2024 Louisiana Tech baseball team — not for the connotation it carries, but the confidence coaches and players believe it brings to a program ready to get out of last year’s doghouse: a 28-31 finish and no NCAA regional.

Not that growth won’t come for these old Diamond Dogs throughout the season ahead, but head coach Lane Burroughs believes there’s value in an experienced lineup that knows what it takes to win, perform, and withstand the bumps of a three-month season.

Learning something new, like entering 2023 as the preseason league favorite, proved to be more difficult to grasp than many thought.

As the 2024 season opens, with Tech picked 4th in the Conference USA Preseason Poll, maybe it’s good these Dogs don’t have to learn. They just have to play. At least, that’s how Burroughs and his team see it.

“You got a lot of guys, especially offensively, that have been through a lot of opening days,” Burroughs said. “When the games start, I don’t think they’ll be sped up. They’ve been through it and they know what to expect. When you got a team with a lot of young guys and they don’t quite know what to expect, this game moves a lot faster than high school and junior college, so I think it’s a sense of calm for the coaching staff that you have an older team.”

Don’t confuse experienced with washed up.

Cole McConnell, a 2022 First Team All-Conference USA selection, is back in center field after sitting out much of last season. Jorge Corona, who’s played in 179 career games with 31 home runs and 184 hits, is back behind the plate. Logan McLeod, Tech’s starting third baseman, had a career-best .304 batting average and career-best 10 doubles last season. He’s played in 150 games. Adarius Myers? How about 151 games played with 107 hits and 5 errors in his four years at Tech?

Myers is optimistic the lineup’s combination of experience and production will make up for last year’s disappointment, a feeling that still sits with the fifthyear Bulldog.

“Ever since I’ve been here, that’s the most disappointing season that we’ve had,” Myers said. “It’s been all about winning since we’ve been here and now we see the other side of that, so I think that will help us come back and want it even more. We want to make a regional, maybe host a super, and get to Omaha.”

Ethan Bates, a senior two-way star, hit 15 home runs at the plate and recorded 10 saves on the mound last season. He’s back.

Add that with veteran transfers Kasten Furr and Michael Ballard to plug up the middle infield, with nearly 300 collegiate games between them, the talent looks capable on paper.

McConnell, who will sit out the opening weekend series against Northern Colorado, believes Tech’s veteran lineup will bode well for 2024.

“We can stay calm under pressure if things don’t go well, or if things are going well, we can stay level-headed and not overreact,” McConnell said. “We can use that to help the younger guys too when they get their chances.”

While he only played in four games last season, McConnell said Tech got caught up in new accolades and the hype of what 2023 was supposed to be before it arrived. The result was Tech’s first sub-.500 finish since 2015. He thinks this year’s team can handle itself better.

“I would say don’t get too far ahead of yourself,” McConnell said of what he learned last year. “We had a really good fall and we thought we were going to be great and that led to not taking the little things as serious and so I think we learned that to keep more in the present and just trying to take it one game at a time and then it will lead us in a good direction.”

The batting order may have the experience needed to make it back to an NCAA regional, but the pitching rotation remains a mystery.

With long-time Friday starter Jonathan Fincher gone, along with Rawley Hector, Landon Tomkins, picking forsure pieces in the rotation isn’t as easy as the starting lineup.

Turner Swistak, a transfer from Tennessee, is expected to be a big weekend starter. Returning arms Reed Smith, Caden Copeland, and Greg Martinez will be crucial as well.

In late innings, of course there will be Bates again, but Burroughs said it’s worth keeping an eye on Wingate transfer Sam Broderson and Nate Crider from Dyersburg State Community College.

“We have a pitching staff that not one guy has a Division I win,” Burroughs said. “ We got some guys that have saves but we don’t have anyone that has a win. But to me, that’s not concerning because we’ve got some guys you’ve never heard of but you’re going to hear of them. A lot of jobs are up for grabs. Again, I think our guys go through it with a professional approach, so I don’t think games are going to speed them up that much.”

Tech opens the 2024 season tonight at 4 p.m. at J.C. Love Field for the first game of a four-game series against Northern Colorado. The game was originally scheduled for 6 but has been moved up due to weather. Tech will then host a doubleheader Saturday at noon and 3 p. m. before the series finale Sunday at 1 p.m.