Louisiana Tech wins at LSU in 12 innings

BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana Tech shortstop Taylor Young drew a bases-loaded walk to provide the go-ahead run in the top of the 12th inning, and the Bulldogs posted a 7-6 victory over LSU Wednesday night at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

LSU (15-6) returns to the diamond Friday to take on their second SEC opponent of the year, as the Tigers travel to Gainesville to meet the Florida Gators in a three-game series. The first contest is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. CT.

The matchup will be televised on the SEC Network, and it can be heard on the LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates.

Louisiana Tech improved to 15-6 on the year with Wednesday’s win.

Louisiana Tech reliever Kyle Crigger (2-1) picked up the win after tossing four innings and allowing no runs on three hits with eight strikeouts.

LSU reliever Ty Floyd (3-2) was charged with the loss after working one inning and giving up one run on one hit with three walks.

“Louisiana Tech is a good team, and this is a game we wanted to win and needed to play,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “Games are hard to win against good teams, and we didn’t get the job done tonight. I’m proud of the players for coming back to tie the game and take the lead after we were down 4-0, and we got some great efforts tonight from our bullpen. Those are definitely positive takeaways from the game.”

The Bulldogs got the scoring started early with three runs in the top of the first and one in the top of the second. Their early success was anchored by two extra-base hits, a single and a sacrifice fly.

LSU responded with a four-run fifth inning to knot the score at four. Senior left fielder Gavin Dugas started the inning with a single, and catcher Tyler McManus followed with a walk.

Sophomore first baseman Tre’ Morgan drilled a double into the right-center field gap, driving in Dugas and McManus. With Morgan on second, sophomore center fielder Dylan Crews crushed a ball to left-center, which cut the deficit to one, as Morgan scored and Crews stood on third. Crews scored to tie the game at 4-4 after sophomore third baseman Jacob Berry reached on a throwing error.

LSU grabbed the lead in the sixth after Dugas was hit by a pitch and designated hitter Brayden Jobert singled to left center, advancing Dugas to third. Morgan sent a slow roller to third base, allowing Dugas to score and take the first lead of the game for the Tigers.

Sophomore shortstop Jordan Thompson led off the bottom of the eighth with a double, and Dugas drove him in with a single up the middle.

Louisiana Tech tied it up in the ninth with two runs without a hit, as the Bulldogs took advantage of three walks and an error.

LSU’s middle relief trio of Trent Vietmeier, Cale Lansville and Paul Gervase was spectacular, combining to limit Louisiana Tech to one unearned run on no hits in seven innings with two walks and 13 strikeouts.

LA Tech:
QUOTABLES

Head Coach Lane Burroughs

“Our message to the team before the game was “compete”. Even if we lose the game I think we competed our tails off. We played harder than they did. I mean we had guys playing out of position. Thaxton Berch was playing second and he hasn’t taken a ground ball in five months. Riggs Easterling has never played third. They tried to run the squeeze play and Riggs (Easterling) runs down (Dylan) Crews and he may be the first pick. But that’s who we are. We are just a lot of guys competing our tails off. Very proud of our players.”

“We kind of went dead offensively between the third and the ninth. We really did not take good swings. There were a lot of punch outs tonight; 20 by both teams. There were some good arms out there too. When they took the lead, we could have easily cashed it in because we weren’t doing much. Taylor’s (Young) at-bat there at the end drawing a walk. I think people need to know too that when he rolled over on his hand in the field, it may have broken.”

UP NEXT

LA Tech will host FIU for a three-game weekend series beginning Friday at 6 p.m. at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park.

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