West Division Champs
Photo by Elise Bordlee
Louisiana Tech head coach Lane Burroughs celebrates after the No. 14 Bulldogs crushed Texas-San Antonio Sunday afternoon to clinch the Conference USA West Division and the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.
Oh, you’ve gotta love it.
On the final day of the Conference USA season, the No. 14 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs had a chance to secure the C-USA West Division title with a home victory over UTSA and a Southern Miss loss at Florida Atlantic.
A pregame Senior Day celebration of Tech›s six seniors, all of which returned for an extra season after a COVID-19-shortened season in 2020, was capped off with a run-rule, walkoff double from senior Hunter Wells.
The Bulldogs won 17- 7. Down in Florida, the Golden Eagles fell 9-6 a few hours before Wells’ slicing double fell in for the division-clinching base hit.
And just like that, the Bulldogs took home the Western Division title and the No. 2 overall seed in the Conference USA Tournament, which will be held at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park on May 26-30.
A jubilant Bulldog dugout emptied onto the field to mob Wells at second base. Moments later, first baseman Manny Garcia locked head coach Lane Burroughs in a bear hug before a tub of Gatorade christened the emotional fifth-year head coach. You can’t write a script quite like that.
“I’m just so proud of our seniors and our team,” Burroughs said. “They’ve been through so much. I don’t want people to forget what our guys, softball and soccer have been through. Just finding anywhere you could go to practice and come ready to play every day. To be able to be where we’re at today from where we were at two years ago, I’m just very proud of our team.”
After UTSA (22-24, 14- 17 C-USA) took its first lead of the game at 7-5 following two runs in the fourth and a single run in the fifth, Tech’s bats roared to life with seven runs in the fifth and five runs in the seventh to wrap a bow on the division title.
The Bulldogs batted around in the bottom of the fifth, plating seven runs behind six hits and three walks and took the lead for good.
Right-hander Landon Tomkins earned the victory after tossing 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Tomkins held the Roadrunners hitless and allowed just one walk in the dominant relief appearance.
Tech will conclude its regular season on Thursday and Friday when Old Dominion (36-14) heads to the Love Shack for a two-game series. Both games will not count toward Conference USA standings.
