By Drew Parsley, Louisiana Tech Associate Director Strategic Communications; featured photo by Drew Parsley
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Louisiana Tech (14-10, 2-1 CUSA) return to Ruston after taking down Sam Houston (7-17, 1-2 CUSA) in a Sunday rubber match, 9-7, at Don Sanders Stadium to clinch the opening series of Conference USA play.
LA Tech applied pressure from the very first pitch of the ball game after Colton Coatesdrew a four-pitch walk to lead off. Garrison Berkley then came up and drew a 2-0 count before a mound visit was called by Sam Houston. After the meeting was over, the Bearkat pitcher battled back to a full count against Berkley before the Bulldog outfielder belted a ball over the left field wall for his first homer as a ‘Dog and give Tech an early 2-0 lead.
After Brooks Roberson retired the side in order in the home half with a pair of swinging strikeouts, the Bulldogs added on two more runs in the second. Zeb Ruddell drew a walk for the second-straight inning with a leadoff walk for Tech before Eli Berch lined a double to left field, bringing in Ruddell to make it a 3-0 game. The offense didn’t stop there, as Berch moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch and Jake Smith tallied an RBI with a sacrifice fly to give the ‘Dogs a 4-0 advantage going into the third.
In the bottom half, Sam Houston started off with two outs on a flyout and a strikeout before the third batter of the frame was hit by a pitch and put himself in scoring position with a stolen base. A base hit from the following Bearkat hitter put Sam Houston’s first run on the board, but that was all they could manage as the Bulldogs went on to the third inning with a 4-1 lead.
Berkley’s bat stayed hot as he led off the third with a solo blast to extend Tech’s lead to 5-1. With his second homer of the day, Berkley is the first Bulldog with multiple homers in a single game since Dalton Davis had two jacks against Sam Houston on May 24, 2024.
After Roberson retired the Bearkats in order in the third, the fourth inning was quiet for both sides until the fifth when the ‘Dogs added to their lead. Back-to-back base hits from Coates and Berkley and a walk drawn by Michael Ballard loaded the bases with one out as Trey Hawsey came up to bat. On a 3-1 count, the first baseman roped a base hit through the right side of the infield to plate two more runs and give Tech a 7-1 lead going to the bottom of the fifth.
The Bearkats’ offense found some life in the home half after a leadoff walk, a bunt single and sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position with one out. The next batter hit a grounder to the pitcher who tried getting the lead runner out at home, but the ball was dropped, and an unearned run was scored on the error. A sacrifice fly and an RBI knock tacked on two more runs to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 7-4 going into the sixth.
Tech got a run back in the seventh after Berkley led off with a double for his fourth hit of the afternoon and Ballard singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. Ballard then moved up to second on a wild pitch. With two outs and a 1-2 count, Ruddell hit a dribbler to the shortstop and was able to just beat out the throw to first, allowing Berkley to score and give the Bulldogs an 8-4 lead going into the seventh inning stretch.
Thaxton Berch, who entered the game earlier in the fifth for a defensive change, found himself in a 1-1 count before blasting his first collegiate homer and putting the ‘Dogs up 9-4 in the top of the eighth. Luke Nichols then entered the game out of the bullpen and retired the Bearkats in order with a pair of strikeouts and a fly out to send the game to the final inning.
The Bulldogs applied pressure in the ninth with a leadoff single from Hawsey, who was pinch ran for by Will Safford. Brody Drost hit into a fielder’s choice and stole second to put a runner in scoring position, but a flyout kept him at bay.
Sam Houston attempted a late rally by bringing their own pressure with just three outs to play with. After a leadoff walk, the Bearkats knocked a double to put runners at second and third with one out. A base hit the next at-bat brought the score to 9-5 before Tech had a mound visit that led to a swinging strikeout. The Bearkats put themselves in position to continue their rally with back-to-back RBI singles, but a looking strikeout cut them short and secured the series win for the Bulldogs.
Coates, Berkley, Hawsey and Thaxton Bercheach had multi-hit performances in Sunday’s victory, with Berkley and Hawsey combining for five of the team’s nine RBI. Berkley also scored four runs on the day, the most in a single game for the graduate outfielder since arriving to LA Tech. His four-hit performance was also the only one recorded by a Bulldog this year and was the first time a Tech player recorded four hits in a game since Jorge Corona posted a four-hit day against Northwestern State on March 18, 2024.
Roberson earned his second win of the season after tossing five innings with three strikeouts, one earned run, two walks and three hits. Logan Forsythe threw two scoreless innings in relief, allowing just two hits, one walk and striking out two batters.
The Bulldogs return to action at the Love Shack when they host Grambling State in a midweek contest on Tuesday, March 25 at 6 p.m.
Head Coach Lane Burroughs after securing the series win on the road:
“I’m proud of those guys. I thought Brooks had another great start. Forsythe made it interesting, but he got us two innings we needed, and Luke [Nichols] was outstanding just like Friday night. [That’s] the best stuff I’ve seen him throw this year. He looked like he did last year, and he was cruising so that’s why we sent him back out [after we] got a five-run lead. It was one of those things where if one man gets on, we’re going to [Blake] Hooks. We’ve rode Hooks so hard, just like [Ethan] Bates last year—you could see his velocity was down. All of his pitches are so stressful because the game is on the line, but [I’m] extremely proud of those pitchers. I thought our hitters showed up and responded today—that was the whole message [to the team], you have to respond. It’s a good league, and that’s not a 7-17 team right there. They play a great schedule and they’re really good. It’s hard to win here, it’s hard to win on the road. Garrison Berkley had a great day—two homers and four hits, it’s good to see him bust out and have a great day. Extremely proud of Thaxton Berch. He’s stuck with us and some of those older guys have been with us forever and don’t get to play a lot, and he goes in there and hits his first career homer. So, he had another hit for us and plays great defense. Another guy I’m real proud of is Trey Hawsey, especially lefty going against a left-handed pitcher. They put the shift on him, and he smoked the ball up the middle off the lefty and right to the shortstop playing over the bag. [We] had some great swings. We’re going to enjoy this one. We have Grambling coming up this week and we need to make sure we’re ready to go.”
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