March 27, 2009

Box Score

DALLAS -- Louisiana Tech pitchers walked nine batters and gave up 12 hits in their 15-10 defeat at the hands of Dallas Baptist Friday afternoon at a windy and cold Patriot Field.

"The difference in the game was we walked nine and struck out eight times," Tech head coach Wade Simoneaux said. "Those are two areas that we need to lower. It is time for our older guys to step up and lead our team. Jamey Bradshaw will start on the mound for us tomorrow. He needs to step up and attack hitters.

"Not to take anything away from Dallas Baptist, they have a fine ball club, but we are a better team than we are playing right now. We just need to prove it on the field tomorrow."

Dallas Baptist (14-7) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a home run by second baseman Travis Meiners.

Tech (12-8) third baseman Chris Kersten cut the Patriots' lead in half as he launched his seventh home run of the season to right-center field in the second inning.

With two outs in the bottom half of the inning, Dallas Baptist left fielder Clay Kelly singled to score Trevor Head from third base. After the gusty wind aided Kersten's home run ball to fly out to the right part of the diamond, Meiners struck once again as he hit a three-run home run to right-center field to give his team a 6-1 advantage. Dallas Baptist added one more run before the inning concluded.

The Bulldogs' earned two runs back in the third. Kevin Winn singled to bring up Devon Dageford. Following a line out by Dageford, Alex Williams stroked his second home run of the season to right field to give the Bulldogs their second and third runs of the day.

Dallas Baptist matched the number of runs Tech scored before the Bulldogs could bat in the fourth inning on a two-run RBI double by shortstop Ryan Goins.

Tech's first two batters popped out to Meiners in the fourth frame. Patrick Thomas, the third batter in the inning, reached base by drawing a walk. Nick Grunenwald then singled to move Thomas to second base. Winn then drew Tech's second walk of the inning to bring up right fielder Dageford. With a 1-1 count, Dageford smashed his second grand slam in two days to right-center field. At that point, Tech trailed by only two runs, 9-7.

Bulldog starting pitcher Jeb Stefan was relieved by Kyle Roliard with one out and a runner on second base in the fifth inning. Stefan's day ended after the Patriots' totaled eight hits, 10 runs (nine earned) and four walks, while the freshman struck out two. A bunt single and a walk loaded the bases for the Patriots in the inning. Meiners came through for the Patriots once again as he hit a two-run RBI single. Dallas Baptist added four more runs in the inning on a two-run RBI single, an RBI walk and a wild pitch. At the end of five innings, the Patriots had a 15-7 advantage.

Kersten started off the seventh inning by drawing a walk. Clint Stubbs then singled to right field. After Matt Combs grounded out to third base to move Stubbs and Kersten up one base, Ashton Hughes drew a walk to load the bases for Tech. Thomas, Tech's leadoff hitter, singled down the right field line to bring in Stubbs and Kersten and to minimize Dallas Baptist's lead by two. Grunenwald then walked to load the bases once again. Following the walk, Winn hit an infield pop fly that allowed Hughes to score from third base. Hughes' run was Tech's final run of the inning and Dallas Baptist led after seven-and-a-half innings, 15-10.

Patriot Ryan Behmanesh pitched the final two innings and did not allow a run or a hit.

Dallas Baptist did not score after the sixth inning. Casey Jones played a big part in the Patriots lack of runs in the final few innings as he pitched a total of 3.1 innings and allowed only one hit and two walks.

Thomas, Winn and Kersten collected two hits on the day. Dageford led Tech with four RBI.

The Bulldogs and Patriots will conclude their three-game series on Saturday with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. Jamey Bradshaw (0-0, 6.59 ERA) will start the game for Tech. He will oppose fellow left-hander Ben Palmer (0-1, 4.35 ERA).

Saturday's game can be heard on ESPN 97.7 FM. An audio feed will also be available online at www.espn977.com. The pregame show will begin approximately 10 minutes prior to the first pitch.

Fans can watch the Bulldogs and Patriots play the final game of the series for free by visiting http://www.dbu.edu/athletics/baseball/webcast/.

An animated version of the game can be seen by viewing GameTracker found at www.latechsports.com.