LA Tech wins series opener at DBU

DALLAS, Texas – Ethan Bates’s late home run carries Louisiana Tech to a victory over No. 25 DBU. Louisiana Tech (28-12, CUSA 7-3) earned a 5-3 victory over No. 25 DBU (27-9, CUSA 6-4) on Friday night.

Tech got on the offensive early after Davis Dalton scored on a passed ball after leading off the game with a single. However, DBU came back to tie the game in the bottom of the first inning with a home run from Chayton Krass.

The Patriots took the lead in the bottom of the second inning, following a triple down the right field line from Tom Poole, scoring Joey Nerat and making it a 2-1 game. Later in the top of the third inning, Ethan Bates (1-for-4, 3 RBI, HR) earned his first RBI of the game after a sacrifice flyout to center field allowed Davis to score the tying run for the Bulldogs.

After three scoreless innings of work for Reed Smith (5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, BB, 6 K) and DBU’s pitcher Ryan Johnson, both teams tied the game up in the sixth inning. Eventually, in the seventh inning, an Ethan Bates two-run home run broke the tiebreaker, putting Tech up 5-3. Bates has homered in three consecutive games, which he did last year against Southern Miss on April 26, 2023, and Middle Tennessee on April 28-29, 2023.

While Sam Brodersen (4-1) took over on the mound to secure Tech’s 5-3 lead, Brodersen put in 2.0 innings of work and struck out three batters, giving him the win. Next, Bates took the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving up one hit and securing LA Tech a Friday night victory with his eleventh save on the year. While Tech’s batters struck 17 times tonight, Tech pulled out the victory, the last time Tech struck over 15 times and earned a win was when Tech faced No. 22 LSU on March 23, 2022, and secured a 7-6 victory in 12 innings.

QUOTABLES
Head Coach Lane Burroughs:
“I thought our guys were very composed in front of a great crowd tonight. Coach Gaspard said last weekend in Arizona that our guys are playing hard when we play like, that we can win a lot of games. I thought our at-bats were unbelievable, even with all the strikeouts.”

UP NEXT
Louisiana Tech will look for the series tomorrow against No. 25 DBU. The first pitch for Saturday’s game time has been moved to noon due to the weather in the area.

SOCIAL MEDIA
For all the latest in Bulldog Baseball, follow us on Twitter (@LATechBSB), Instagram (@LATechBSB), and Facebook (LATechBSB).