Boxscore

RUSTON, La. ? The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs dropped an afternoon game with UL-Monroe 10-9 with a combined six home runs. Tech (11-5) will have to wait to give coach Wade Simoneaux his 100th career win.

The Bulldogs fell behind in the fourth inning when the Warhawks claimed a 4-1 lead off a series of hits and a three-run homer by A.J. Siggers. Tech responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning to trail by one. The runs scored on a single by Adam Cobb. Cobb had three RBIs on the day and two runs. He hit his first homer of the season to leadoff the bottom of the first for Tech.

Another big inning for ULM (6-2) put Tech behind again and another rally by Tech kept it close.

Four runs scored in the sixth inning for the Warhawks after Tech made two errors in the inning defensively to keep the inning alive and allow the runs to plate. The Bulldogs came back again, this time with three runs in the bottom half to trail by two.

Dennis Winn hit his third homer of the season to start the inning, and Drew Bunting reached on an error. Chris Juneau ran for Bunting and was driven in by a Brian Rike home run, his fifth on the year.

ULM scored once in the seventh, and Tech came back to tie it in the eighth. Kevin Winn and Patrick Thomas hit back-to-back homers with one out, and Cobb singled. A double by Rike scored Cobb, and it was 9-9 heading into the ninth.

The Warhawks used aggressive base running in the ninth inning to score the winning run. With two outs and runners on first and second, Andy Jones hit a bouncing single over the pitcher?s head. Dennis Winn got to the ball behind second base but did not have a throw for a force out. Brent Smith rounded third to come home on the play. Winn?s throw was just up the line from the plate and Smith slid in under the tag to put ULM on top 10-9.

It was an exciting game Simoneaux said could have gone the other way if his team had taken advantage of more opportunities and not made defensive mistakes.

?Those two errors in the four-run sixth hurt us,? Simoneaux said. ?Those errors led to four runs instead of no runs. We came back with a big inning and were able to fight back, but we would have been in the lead instead of tied without those errors.?

Other than Cobb?s homer in the first, the Bulldogs? bats were relatively quiet until late in the game. Simoneaux said his team has to find a way to hit left-handed starters early in the game so Tech doesn?t have to battle back like Sunday.

?I thought the key to the game was we couldn?t get a big inning off their soft lefty early in the game, and we?ve got to hit that guy,? Simoneaux said. ?I told them I?m proud of how they fought back, but we?re a good enough hitting team to get it done in the early innings.?

Simoneaux was able to find a positive in the loss he liked very much. Two of Tech?s leading hitters, Brandon Hudson and Jericho Jones, both went hitless in Sunday?s contest. Simoneaux said seeing so much production on offense when two of the team?s top hitters are both off is a sign the entire lineup can produce.

?Hudson and Jericho went 0-for-9 in a slugfest,? Simoneaux said. ?We score nine runs on 11 hits, you tell me Hudson and Jericho go 0-for-9, that?s a good overall output offensively.?

Tech heads to UL-Lafayette on Tuesday evening to take on the Ragin? Cajuns. It will be an opportunity for Simoneaux to get his 100th win against a team he was an assistant for when ULL went to the College World Series. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. with the game being broadcast on ESPN Radio 97.7 FM.