By Drew Parsley, Louisiana Tech Associate Director Strategic Communications; featured photo by Michael Kendrick
RUSTON — The Louisiana Tech Diamond ‘Dogs (20-12, 6-2 CUSA) secured the series victory over the FIU Panthers (20-12, 4-4 CUSA) on Sunday with a 13-5 win in a resumed game that was postponed on Saturday. LA Tech belted four homers on the day, including a massive grand slam off the bat of Sebastian Mexico in a six-run eighth inning.
The series win over FIU was the fourth-straight weekend series win for the ‘Dogs and the third-straight series win over a Conference USA opponent. Game 3 was not played due to CUSA’s rules pertaining to teams that travel by air based off the time that Game 2 was completed, with both teams agreeing to not begin the series finale.
With Mexico’s grand slam, he marked three-straight games with a homer and is the first Bulldog since Dalton Davis belted one in back-to-back-to-back games during the 2024 season. Mexico’s six RBI on the day are also the most since Eli Berch drove in seven against Wichita State on March 14.
Mexico is the second Bulldog to hit a grand slam this season, with Cade Patterson having hit one against Memphis on March 1.
Michael Ballard picked up his third four-RBI game of the season and ninth multi-hit game while extending his hitting streak to a team-leading 10 games. He is five games shy of tying Colton Coates’ longest streak of the season at 15-straight games with a hit.
When the second game of the weekend series initially started on Saturday, FIU jumped ahead to a 1-0 lead in the first after belting a solo homer to center field. The ‘Dogs were retired in order in the home half before the game was halted due to lightning in the area before ultimately being postponed until Sunday morning.
Once play was resumed in the second inning, Luke Nichols started the day on the mound and retired the side in order on three groundouts. On a 2-2 count with one out in the bottom of the second, Zeb Ruddell ripped a solo shot over the right field wall to tie the game with his fourth homer of the year.
FIU led off the third with a double before a one-out knock put the Panthers back out front with a 2-1 lead. Following a hit-by-pitch and a throwing error, a two-run base hit up the middle increase FIU’s lead to 4-1. The Bulldogs answered with a one-out base hit by Coates followed with a walk drawn by Zeb Ruddell, bringing Ballard to the plate and blasting his team-high sixth homer of the season for three runs to bring the score back to an even 4-4.
After the Panthers led off the fourth with a base hit, Brooks Roberson entered the game and retired the next three batters to hold the FIU runner at scoring position and maintain the tie with the ‘Dogs back up to bat. Trey Hawsey led off with a base hit up the middle on the first pitch of the frame before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt dropped by Will Safford. Colton Coates then drew a walk on a 3-2 count before Ballard and Mexico delivered a pair of two-out RBI knocks to take a 6-4 lead.
The fifth inning was quiet for both sides, with Roberson recording three strikeouts in the top half before Tech was retired in order despite a pitching change made by the Panthers. In the sixth inning, Safford walked before advancing to third on a base hit from Garrison Berkleybefore Ballard loaded the bases with a one-out walk. Mexico then added to the lead with a sacrifice fly to send the ‘Dogs into the seventh with a 7-4 advantage.
FIU put a run on the board in the eighth with a solo shot to cut it to a 7-5 lead for Tech, but the Bulldogs answered back in a big way in the home half. Coates started the inning with a base hit before an attempted sacrifice bunt by Berkley became a single as a he beat the throw out to first. Ballard drew his second walk of the day, bringing up Mexico with a chance to put the game out of reach.
On a 2-2 count, Mexico pulled a tape-measure shot just over 370 feet for his fourth homer of the year and his first grand slam as a Diamond ‘Dog, putting the ‘Dogs ahead by six before Eli Berch sent a ball to dead center over 420 feet over the batter’s eye to give the ‘Dogs a comfortable 12-5 lead. The six-run frame was capped off with a triple down the right field line by Safford to score Grant Comeaux, who reached base on a throwing error after entering the game in a defensive substitution at the top of the inning.
After Blake Hooks had entered the game to get the final out of the eighth on two pitches, he retired the side in order in the ninth to give Tech it’s 20th win of the season and clinch the series.
Roberson earned the win to improve to a 4-1 record, tossing 4 2/3 innings of relief allowing one run on three hits and a walk while striking out six batters on the afternoon.
Head Coach Lane Burroughs after Sunday’s resumed Game 2 victory:
“I’m just extremely proud of our team. What a weekend—a lot of rain, a lot of delays and this weekend felt like it lasted a week in itself. I’m just extremely proud of our guys. We stressed to them before we let them leave the facility yesterday—there needs to be a sense of urgency because there’s a chance we may not play a third game, so we have to come out and get after it early. We’re down 1-0, and our hitters answered the bell. We came out swinging the bat—Zeb got us going with the long homer, and obviously Ballard had a great day. He got himself a homer and Mexico with the grand slam. Eli Berch with his solo shot there over the batter’s eye. I thought our hitters were phenomenal all day long. We knew the north wind was going to come in with the cold weather after the storm, and when that happens here the Love Shack plays extremely small. FIU got two homers themselves and they can really hit and they have a lot of power, so we felt no lead was really safe. I can’t say enough about Luke Nichols for coming out and giving us a good start. Once it got to the point where there was going to be no Game 3, we went with Brooks. We had to—we had to go with our best bullet out of the bullpen. He was the guy that gave us the best chance, and we brought him in and he was good. He was fantastic, threw up four zeroes, and obviously Hooks came in there at the end and nailed it down for us. He was extremely good and hats off to our hitters for extending the lead because, like I said, the wind is blowing out and you can get one out of here easy today. So, I’m proud of our guys and I think the scoreboard speaks for itself—our guys were ready to go.”
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