By Drew Parsley, Louisiana Tech Associate Director Strategic Communications; featured photo by Michael Kendrick
RUSTON — The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (25-15, 10-4 CUSA) secured their 10th Conference USA win and sixth-straight series win after defeating Liberty (24-16, 6-9 CUSA), 4-3, in a tight affair played at the Love Shack on Saturday.
The Bulldogs’ 10-4 record puts them half a game back from a tie for the top spot in the conference, which is currently shared by Western Kentucky and Dallas Baptist who are both currently 11-4 in league play.
Luke Nichols earned his fourth win of the season after tossing three scoreless innings out of the bullpen, allowing one hit and one walk while fanning four batters. Blake Hooksearned his CUSA-leading seventh save after pitching the last two innings without allowing a run on a hit, four walks and a strikeout.
LA Tech’s offense got going early on in the first frame after Trey Hawsey smashed his fifth homer of the season over the videoboard in right field, ripping the ball 395 feet at an exit velocity of 109 miles per hour.
The Flames answered back on an infield base hit that allowed an unearned run to score after the lead runner reached base on a catcher’s interference earlier in the inning. Both sides were in a deadlock in the third before a solo shot by Liberty tied the game in the top of the fourth.
The ‘Dogs responded with another pair of runs that were scored on two outs in the home half. Garrison Berkley ripped a single that ricocheted off the pitcher’s foot and over the second baseman into the outfield before putting himself in scoring position with a stolen base. Cade Patterson then gave Tech the lead with a base hit up the middle before he swiped second.
Matt Houston then ripped a single that took a hop over the shortstop into left field, allowing Patterson to come around and score an insurance run for the ‘Dogs.
Liberty applied pressure in the fifth by loading the bases to start the frame. A walk, base hit and a second walk forced the Tech coaching staff to make a pitching change, which resulted in the Flames only scoring one run on a wild pitch after a strikeout. A fly out and a groundout ultimately ended the top half with Tech still holding on to a one-run lead.
The Flames attempted to tie the game in the ninth after a leadoff walk and a stolen base were followed up with a base hit to center. Berkley attempted to grab the ball with his bare hand and bobbled it before firing a throw to Michael Ballard near second base. Ballard then rocketed a throw to Houston at home, who applied the tag to cut the tying run short of the plate which was confirmed after a video review. Liberty continued the inning by loading the bases on a pair of walks, but a double play was turned after Will Saffordcaught a line drive straight to him and stepped on second for the final out.
Liberty was held to just three hits for the remainder of the game after the fifth, and did not score a run despite putting at least one runner in scoring position in each of the final three innings. Coates, Hawsey and Houston all posted multi-hit performances with Hawsey driving in two of the team’s four runs on the day.
Lane Burroughs after the Bulldogs’ series-clinching win:
“I’m just extremely proud of our guys. I say this all the time–but it’s not who you play, it’s when you play them. I’m not taking anything away from Liberty—they’ve got a fine club, they’re coached very well. But we didn’t play good all weekend and still found a way to win the series, and that’s the sign of a good club. Pitching, offense, defense—we just didn’t play good. It was one of those weekends where it wasn’t our weekend, but we still found a way to win it. It wasn’t pretty at all, but maybe we’re a good ball club. Looking at today, I thought Kade Parker gave us a great start. He eliminated a lot of runs, he had a lot of opportunities to blow the game open and he did a good job working around that, working through some traffic. I think the player of the game, in my opinion, is Luke Nichols. He came in with the bases loaded, nobody out, and only gave up one run. He pitched the next inning and the next. We were actually going to send him out in the eighth to face the lefty, but he took the ball off the shin, it swelled up pretty good on him so we went with Blake Hooks. It wasn’t pretty with Hooks in the ninth, but we found a way to get it done. Huge homer by Hawsey. What he’s done in the month of April is incredible—his OPS is over 1.500. He’s getting on base and he’s hitting double, he’s hitting homers, he’s figuring out college pitching. Just like the other night on the double, it was huge, but he had three walks before that. And you saw the respect that they had for him when they intentionally walked him late in the game. The game hung into balance when its 0-2, two outs, nobody on and Garrison Berkley finds a way to get a hit. He steals second, Cade Patterson drives him in then he steals second and Matt Houston drives him in, that’s pretty much the ball game. You talk about Cade Patterson and Matt Houston; they don’t play a lot and they were very pivotal in today’s win. They were huge for us. We needed a spark offensively and I thought Patterson would give it to us, and he did earlier in the year, and he had a good day for us. Got on base, stole a base, had a knock—again, just extremely happy to win this series.”
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