By Drew Parsley, Louisiana Tech Associate Director Strategic Communications; featured photo by Josie Henkel
RUSTON — Louisiana Tech (27-17) started off with a seven-run second inning and never looked back, defeating Arkansas-Pine Bluff (13-30, 11-7 SWAC), 11-6, on Tuesday night at the Love Shack.
The Golden Lions struck first with a sacrifice fly in the opening frame before turning around and retiring the first three Tech batters in order in the home half.
The ‘Dogs made a pitching change in the second, and after allowing a pair of base hits the next three batters for UAPB were retired on a sacrifice bunt and a pair of swinging strikeouts to leave both runners stranded in scoring position.
Tech then took a lead that would not be surrendered in the bottom of the second. Zeb Ruddell and Colton Coates reached base on a pair of leadoff walks. Ruddell was tagged out running to third on a fielder’s choice, but Cade Patterson loaded the bases after reaching first on an error by the Golden Lions’ second baseman.
Thaxton Berch then reached on a fielder’s choice to put runners at the corners with one out before stealing second to put two in scoring position for the Bulldogs. Will Saffordwas hit by a pitch to load the bases for the second time in the inning with Sebastian Mexico coming to the plate.
The lefty designated hitter fouled off the first pitch before taking a hanging breaking ball to dead center for his second grand slam of the season off the batter’s eye, quickly putting Tech out in front 4-1. The very next pitch, Michael Ballard pulled a fastball to left field and over the wall to extend the lead out to four runs.
Trey Hawsey, who entered the game with three homers in his last four games, belted his eighth of the season off the right field videoboard on his first pitch of the at-bat to cap off the ‘Dogs’ massive frame at the plate.
The Bulldogs hit three-straight homers for the first time since March 28, 2017, against ULM when Sean Ullrich, Cody Daigle and Dalton Skelton went back-to-back-to-back in a 12-3 victory over the Warhawks at the Love Shack. The last time the ‘Dogs hit three homers in an inning dates back to last season on May 11, 2024 in a 12-2 win over Western Kentucky.
The offensive fireworks continued to display for the home crowd in the third inning when Thaxton Berch reached base with one out on a hit-by-pitch before Safford doubled to right, putting two runners in scoring position for Mexico.
The Baldwinville, Massachusetts native then jacked his second homer of the day over the right-center wall to put the ‘Dogs up 10-1, recording his first multi-homer game as a Bulldog. His seven RBI also tie for the most by a ‘Dog this year with Eli Berch’s seven-RBI game at Wichita State on March 14.
The Golden Lions plated a pair of unearned runs in the eighth on an RBI knock and a wild pitch, but the ‘Dogs got a run back after an RBI groundout. UAPB closed the gap in the ninth after the first two batters reached on a single and a hit-by-pitch before scoring on a three-run homer. Ryan Harland then entered the game and retired the first three batters he faced to end the game.
Kade Parker was lights out in his appearance out of the bullpen, tossing six scoreless innings allowing four hits, no walks with five strikeouts. It was his second outing of the year tossing six frames without allowing a run, coming up just one strikeout shy of tying his season high.
The Bulldogs conclude their homestand with the Golden Lions on Wednesday, April 30 at 5 p.m. CT at the Love Shack.
Head Coach Lane Burroughs after Tuesday’s win:
“Big win for us. I told the team before the game and after our game on Sunday against Dallas Baptist that Pine Bluff has a really good team. Logan Stout, their head coach, he’s a very successful businessman and he has a really good career outside of baseball. He felt the calling to go in there and coach them, he’s changed the culture there and he’s done a great job. They’re hitting over .280 coming in and they’ve had some huge wins. They swept Bethune-Cookman this past weekend, who’s had some big wins this year. The first inning was all you needed to see—they were hitting missiles all over the place and I thought it was going to be a long night. But, in saying that, it was good to see Grant Hubka back on the mound, we hadn’t seen him on the mound in quite some time. His velocity was way up and he looked good. I know they hit him around a little bit, but he told us that he felt good at the end of the game, so that’s very encouraging. The back-to-back-to-back homers, that was pretty cool. You don’t see that too often. Mexico with the slam, and Ballard and Hawsey—I thought we took some good swings. We had a good approach at the plate. It got a little hairy there at the end. I thought Kade Parkerwas outstanding tonight, too. What can you say about Ryan Harland, man? He’s an OKG—he’s our kinda guy. He’s been with us forever, he’s been on winning teams. He’s not worried about pro ball and all that stuff, he’s worried about winning here and he’s worried about being a good Louisiana Tech Bulldog and he’s going to go down as one of the best ones we’ve had. Very proud of him and very proud of our team. I know we had the huge lead and tried to get some guys in the game, but they showed what they’re made of making that comeback there in the ninth inning. We need to go out tomorrow, we’ll have our hands full again. They’ve got a big weekend at Grambling, could be competing for a top spot in the SWAC. Again, they’ve had some big wins, and we’ve got to bring it tomorrow. It’s another day, but very proud of our guys finding a way to win tonight.”
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