Davis hits pair of homers as LA Tech eliminates Sam Houston

RUSTON, La. – A two home run night from Dalton Davis lifts Louisiana Tech over Sam Houston to send the Bearkats home. Louisiana Tech (43-16, 18-6 CUSA) powers past Sam Houston (34-24) in a 5-3 victory on Friday Night.

In a win-or-go-home matchup, Tech started strong with great defensive plays against Sam Houston. After two scoreless frames from both sides, Dalton Davis blasted a two-run bomb to left field to put Louisiana Tech up 2-0 in the bottom of the third inning.

Later in the inning, Michael Ballard continued the scoring with an RBI single to middle field, sending Cole McConnell home and extending Tech’s lead to 3-0. Eventually, Sam Houston got on the board, putting up three runs following a bases-loaded walk RBI and two ground-out RBI, tying up the game.

Sam Brodersen kept the game at a deadlock with his 3.1 innings of work and five punchouts on the night. Brodersen (8-1) allowed one hit and walked one batter to give him the win, as well.

In the seventh inning, Davis (2-for-5, 3 RBI, 2 HR) lifted Tech to lead after his second home run of the night, then Michael Ballard followed with his second RBI of the night with a single up the middle, scoring Jorge Corona. This was the third game this season where Davis has had multiple home runs.

Ethan Bates came in the eighth inning and closed out the game getting his 16th save this season.

QUOTABLES
Head Coach Lane Burroughs:
On the game…

“I am so proud of our guys, that was a grind all day and it was a fight. We did not particularly play great baseball today. We picked a bad day not to play very well but we found a way to win. Dalton (Davis) who was just sitting here. He kind of has been scuffling a little bit. He did not play great last weekend but he is a great hitter and found a way to get it done tonight. The two home runs were huge. We had second and third with nobody out and didn’t score in the fifth that was as mad as I had been all year. I think I could have eaten the concrete in the dugout. I stayed composed and the players stayed composed. It was frustrating and that sort of day. We had opportunity after opportunity, but we found a way to win this one. Sam Broderson was key. That is an alpha dog right there. He said give me the baseball. You have to understand he just threw two days ago. He just kept going. He came in with bases loaded and nobody out. I know they scored three runs, but he minimized that because it could have got out of hand quickly and that would have been hard to come back from. I went and took the ball from him and said you are going to be pitching next week because of what you just did, and he looked at me and said I am pitching tomorrow. We would never do that, but he is that kind of kid. I was proud of him and Ethan (Bates) at the end of the ballgame. That double play was huge. Ethan is good against lefties. I felt like Broderson was running on fumes, and it was hot today, and he got the double play ball. That was a clean double play, and Ethan finished it out. I am extremely proud of our guys, we have been here before, and we talked about it after game one. We were here three years ago. We had to win two games on Saturday, and we walked Southern Miss off twice. This is nothing new to us. We expect to play on Sunday. Nothing against Liberty they are a great team. They beat us today, but our guys expect to be playing on Sunday. We appreciate our crowd. I know it was hot, and I know the disappointment of losing game one but I appreciate everybody coming out tonight to pull us through.”

UP NEXT
No. 1 seed Louisiana Tech will face No. 5 seed Liberty in a must-win game on Saturday at 12:30 PM to keep their chances alive at a shot of the CUSA Championship.

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