LA Tech bats red hot in opening win over Middle Tennessee

MURFREESBORO, Tennessee — Louisiana Tech senior lefthander Jonathan Fincher earned his team-leading seventh win, Brody Drost hit a grand slam, catcher Jorge Corona had three hits and scored three times, Justin Williams homered twice in his first start of the season, and shortstop Will Safford hit his first homer of the season, a three-run shot way over the fence in right as the Bulldogs beat Middle Tennessee, 18-8, on a cloudy and cool Friday night at Reese Smith Jr. Field.

It took 3:08 to play it.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak and moved the Bulldogs, 21-22, into a tie with MTSU, 21-20, for fourth place in Conference USA; both teams are 10-9.

The two teams are scheduled to play single games Saturday at 3 and Sunday at 1.

There was not a shortage of Bulldog stars in the rout, one in which Middle Tennessee scored five runs in the ninth – and still trailed by double digits.

• Fincher, 7-3, improved to 5-1 in CUSA and bounced back from last Friday’s loss at Dallas Baptist. He set down the first two Blue Raiders to come to the plate, then gave up three hits and a run. He gave up an unearned run in the third and … that was it. Fincher finished with seven innings pitched for the fourth time this year, gave up seven hits, one earned run, struck out four and did not walk anyone before giving way to Tanner Knight. Fincher has now gone at least six innings in all but two of his 11 starts.
• With Tech leading 8-3 in the fifth, Drost greeted the Blue Raiders’ fourth pitcher of the night, freshman Justin Lee, with a grand slam to push the Dogs’ lead to 12-2. It was a sweet moment for Drost, who grounded into a double play with two on and no one out in the first and grounded out after a 12-pitch at-bat with two on and two out in the second.
• Tech scored in each of the first five innings to build a 15-2 lead, and Williams, the junior from Madison, Miss. in his first start of the season (as designated hitter), hit two homers after coming into the game hitless in three at-bats as a pinch hitter; he has 13 appearances as a pitcher.
• Also getting his first start of the season was Thaxton Berch, in center, while Drost moved to right and Philip Matulia to left. A sophomore from Jackson, Miss., Berch made a diving catch in the second, and in the third with two outs, he had a 10-pitch at-bat and fouled off four two-strike pitches before reaching on a swinging bunt. Safford’s three-run homer came immediately after that.
• The Dogs’ shortstop, Safford, has 14 hits this season, and nine of them are doubles, including the one he hit Friday in the eighth.
• Ethan Bates gone in on the home run action, hitting a mammoth shot to right for his ninth homer of the year (second straight game sending one over the wall).
• Third baseman Logan McLeod was hit by a pitch for a team-leading 15th time, including in three straight plate appearances Friday.
• Besides Berch’s gem in center, Safford made an outstanding play in the hole in the third and Bates ended the first with a fine play at second with two runners on and the game tied 1-1. The only downside Friday: Tech made five errors was sloppy in the ninth. But …
The Bulldogs banged out 21 hits, batted through the order six times, every starter had at least two hits and the Dogs scored in every inning but the sixth.

The Bulldogs hit three balls hard in the first but managed just one run. Dalton Davis led off with a double down the third-base line and McLeod, after fouling off a pair of two-strike pitches, knocked him in with a single to right for the quick 1-0 lead. After a groundball double play, Corona lined a pitch to left, Bates walked, Philip Matulia hit a line drive but right at centerfielder Luke Vinson.

The Dogs scored a run and left two again in the second, but Safford’s three-run shot in the third gave a cruising Fincher plenty of cushion.