May 3, 2008
RUSTON, La. - A pair of four-year starters, a junior college transfer and four pitchers will play their final regular-season WAC home games on Sunday as the seven seniors on the Louisiana Tech baseball roster will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.
Landon Braud, Drew Bunting, Adam Cobb, Albie Goulder, Alan Knotts, Andrew Lassere and Aaron Lorio comprise the list of players in their final year for the Bulldogs. Coming into the weekend, the senior class leaves having been a part of more than 100 victories in their careers.
The seniors will be joined by family and friends on Sunday as coach Wade Simoneaux will present each of them with a token of appreciation for their years of service to the Tech baseball club.
Landon Braud, a lefthanded pitcher from Luling, had appeared in 33 games in his career entering this weekend, amassing a record of three wins and two losses while posting a 5.91 earned run average.
One of his best outings came earlier this season when he shut down UT-Arlington over two innings and struck out four batters, a career-high. His biggest victory came during his sophomore season of 2006 when he got the start and went 5.1 innings at UL-Lafayette to record his first career win.
Drew Bunting is completing his second year at Tech after transferring from Panola Junior College prior to the 2007 season. The infielder from Houston was a force off the bench during his junior campaign as he batted a very impressive .411 with a home run and 19 runs batted in, but fell just a few at-bats short of qualifying for the team or league batting title.
He also put together a 14-game hitting streak, one of the best in the WAC last year. This season, he has picked up where he left off, staying around .300 for much of the year while driving in 15 runs.
Adam Cobb has been a four-year starter for the Bulldogs, and his senior season has been his best yet. Entering the weekend, Adam was hitting .333 with seven home runs and 29 runs batted in, all career-bests for the center fielder. He put together a 14-game hitting streak to open the season and led off the game with a home run in three games out of a five-game stretch.
His performance in an early season tournament in College Station led to his being named to the Domino's Pizza Classic All-Tournament Team. Coming into this weekend's series, Adam ranked ninth all-time at Tech with 212 career hits, eighth with 40 career doubles, tied for sixth with seven career triples and third with 140 runs scored. He will also move into the top 10 in career games played before the season is complete.
Another four-year starter, Albie Goulder, stands tied for sixth all-time in career home runs with 35, third all-time with 108 walks, seventh all-time with 139 runs batted in, and he has been hit by a pitch 25 times, good for fourth all-time. He went on a tear at the end of the 2007 season to earn first-team All-WAC honors, and was named WAC Player of the Week three times in his career, including the first week of this season.
The first baseman from Scottsdale, Ariz., leads the team with 11 home runs thus far in 2008, and he put together a 10-game hitting streak earlier in the year. He was also part of the soon-to-be-legendary back-to-back-to-back home runs in back-to-back games last weekend against Hawaii.
Righthander Alan Knotts has been one of the key components to the Bulldogs' success over the last four years, but has come on very strong during his senior campaign, particularly late in the season. The senior from Shreveport became the first Tech starter to record a complete game this season with his seven-inning performance against Hawaii in which he did not give up an earned run and matched a career high with eight strikeouts. He was also named WAC Pitcher of the Week earlier in the season for his efforts in a win over UT-Arlington.
In 49 career appearances, Knotts has seven victories while striking out 105 batters in just over 100 innings pitched. His mark of 47 strikeouts this season is a team high.
Two other pitchers, Andrew Lassere and Aaron Lorio, have been Tech's workhorses out of the bullpen in their four-year career. Lorio currently stands third all-time at Tech with 70 pitching appearances entering the weekend, and Lassere is not far behind with 62.
Lassere, a lefthander from Destrehan, has seen some of his best performances come in long relief. He went a career-long 6.2 innings in relief at San Jose State earlier this season and allowed just one run while striking out three. He also made a long appearance at Nevada on Mar. 22 and held the hot-hitting Wolf Pack to only a pair of runs in 3.2 innings of work.
A Baton Rouge native, the hard-throwing Lorio shares the team lead with five wins on the season and has 10 in his career, which ranks third among active players. He also led the team with five saves last season and has another to his credit in 2008. In more than 100 innings pitched, the righthander has struck out 96 batters and has only surrendered nine earned runs all season.
The seven seniors will be recognized on the field prior to Sunday's first game of the doubleheader, slated to begin at 1 p.m. The ceremony will take place at approximately 12:45 p.m. Stadium gates open 90 minutes prior to first pitch.
