Offense stymied as LA Tech falls, 2-1 to Little Rock

RUSTON, La. – The Louisiana Tech baseball team received another quality start from lefthander David Leal, but scratched across just one run on three hits, as Little Rock took a 2-1 triumph on Wednesday evening from J.C. Love Field.

Leal (2-1) was dominant throughout the evening, striking out eight and scattering just four hits and did not walk a batter. However, facing a 1-0 deficit, Little Rock tied the game in the top of the eighth on a leadoff solo home run from Kale Emshoff, and then took a 2-1 lead on an RBI triple to centerfield from Ryan Benevidez.

“He (Leal) pitched well enough to win tonight,” head coach Lane Burroughs said. “He did the same thing against these guys last time, and he deserves a better fate than this. It was just a lackluster effort at the plate. We’ve got a good club, but we didn’t show up tonight, and that’s disappointing. Good teams show up every day, and we’ve got to be more consistent. We’ll get it figured out and move forward this weekend.”

Tech (22-9, 7-2) seemingly could not get into a rhythm at the plate, as Little Rock (17-11, 6-3) starter Aaron Funk (1-0) went seven innings, giving up just one hit and striking out five in his third start of the season.

The Bulldogs got on the board first in the bottom of the fourth, as Tanner Huddleston came through with an RBI double into the left field corner, scoring Dalton Skelton, who led the inning off with a walk. The RBI was Huddleston’s team-leading 26th of the season. Skelton also extended his team-high reached-base streak to 27-consecutive contests.

Tyler Follis entered in relief of Leal in the eighth with a runner in third and two outs, and proceeded to strike out Marcus Ragan, ending the Trojan threat.

Follis worked around a one-out single and walk in the top of the eighth, and got a groundout and an emphatic strikeout with runners at second and third, to keep Tech within striking distance.

Little Rock reliever Justin Garcia entered in the top of the ninth, and worked around a pair of Tech singles to earn his eighth save of the season.

The Bulldogs return to action this weekend, taking on UTSA (15-11, 5-3 C-USA) in a Conference USA three-game set this weekend in San Antonio. First pitch of the series is set for Friday at 6 p.m. All games this weekend can be heard on SportsTalk 97.7 with Dave Nitz on the call.