LA Tech falls to Arizona in series opener, 9-1

TUCSON, Ariz. – Louisiana Tech was unable to snap another long winning streak on Friday night, falling 9-1 to Arizona in the non-conference series opener at Hi Corbett Field.

LA Tech (26-10) was coming off a big midweek win, putting an end to UL-Lafayette’s 16-game winning streak. In doing so, the Bulldog pitching staff was able to strike out a season-high 15 batters.
The roles reversed against Arizona (19-13), who extended its winning streak to nine games by striking out 15 Bulldogs, a season-high for LA Tech. Left-handed starter Jackson Kent (3-1) had nine of those Ks, going 7.0 innings.

The Wildcats manufactured the first run scored in the game. A single, stolen base, and a wild pitch led to the leadoff hitter getting to third base. He was driven in, on a groundout. The next batter for Arizona legged out a triple to deep right center, scoring from 90 feet on a lined single to right to make it a 2-0 advantage in favor of the home team.

LA Tech was able to slice that deficit in half in the top of the second. Jorge Corona laced a double down the left field line and then scored from second after Adarius Myers doubled himself to left. Those back-to-back hits would be just two of the season-low three the entire night for the Bulldogs with the only other one coming by Kasten Furr in the third.

Meanwhile, Arizona plated another run in both the third and fourth innings to go up 4-1. The Wildcats then blew the game open in the fifth, an inning that was jump-started by another triple. It was one of four extra-base hits off Bulldog right-handed starter Reed Smith (4-3), who was chased after 4.1 innings of work.

It took three LA Tech relievers to get out of the inning, but not before the Wildcats put up a total of four runs to make it 8-1. Three singles by the first four batters in the eighth would be the ninth run scored by Arizona.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs and Wildcats will play game two of the three-game series on Saturday night at 8 p.m. CT.

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