March 22, 2011

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RUSTON, La. - Caleb Dudley allowed just one hit in his first career start on the mound and Louisiana Tech scored five runs on 10 hits to knock off Alcorn State, 5-1, Tuesday night at J.C. Love Field.

Dudley tossed 5.0 scoreless innings allowing just a single through the left side in the fourth inning while tying his career-high with five strikeouts and issuing just one walk to pick up his first win of the season.

"I thought (Dudley) commanded his changeup well against right-handed hitters and he kept his fastball down," said ninth-year head coach Wade Simoneaux. "He did a good a job tonight and kept his pitch count low to give us a chance to get into the win column."

Louisiana Tech (9-11) struck quickly on Alcorn starter Joseph Camp in the top of the first as Kyle Roliard led off the game with a triple down the right field line. Joey Ford then drove him in with an infield single to short. Tech added a run as Alex Williams drove a 1-0 pitch into the gap in right center to plate Ford.

The Bulldogs threatened again in the second as Camp issued back-to-back walks to lead off the inning followed by a single down the right field line to load the bases. However, Camp fanned Roliard and forced Ford to ground into an inning-ending double play that stranded all three runners on base.

In his final inning of work, Dudley put a quick out on the board with a ground out to third. Facing Joshua Powell, Dudley struck him out swinging but a wild pitch allowed him to reach first. The right-handed sophomore then struck out the next two Alcorn batters to end the inning.

"I was just trying to stay down in the zone tonight," said Dudley. "Tonight, everything was working down and my changeup was good. The staff as a whole pitched well as we issued just one walk. We weren't trying to strike everybody out but we were trying to just throw the ball in the zone and let our defense make the plays."

Tech added a pair of runs in the fifth inning on an RBI ground out from Williams and a sacrifice fly from Justin Gordey. Tyler Qualls capped off the Bulldog scoring with an RBI double to left in the seventh.

Camp (1-2) was charged with the loss after allowing seven hits, six walks and four earned runs in 4.2 innings of work.

In the seventh, the first three Alcorn State (7-12) runners notched singles against Mike LeBreton to load the bases. Nevertheless, LeBreton was able to work out of the jam by getting Tech's second double play ball of the evening and forcing a ground out to short to allow just one run in the inning.

LeBreton finished the night allowing five hits and one run in 3.0 innings of relief work.

Senior Josh Barrett worked the ninth inning and allowed just one hit while picking up two strikeouts to close the game for the Bulldogs.

"I thought we had some big at-bats where we stayed on top of the ball and finally got some runs," said Simoneaux. "The team played good defense tonight and it's good to get back into the win column but there is still a lot of work ahead of us not only this week but for the rest of the season."

Louisiana Tech returns to action tomorrow night at 6 p.m. CT with a road game at Grambling State. The Bulldogs then return home for an 11-game homestand that begins this weekend with a three-game set against UTPA.

Notes: Louisiana Tech improves to 4-1 all-time against Alcorn State... The win snaps a nine-game losing streak... The Bulldogs have won 13 of their last 14 games inside the confines of J.C. Love Field...Mark Threlkeld has made 91 consecutive starts... The five strikeouts from Caleb Dudley tied a career-high... Kyle Roliard's triple in the first inning was the first for a Bulldog since Clint Stubbs tripled against Hawai'i on May 26, 2010... Tyler Qualls recorded his first career double... Ryan Gebhardt tied his career-high with two hits... Joey Ford now has nine multiple hit games this season.... The one walk issued by the Bulldogs pitching staff tied a season-low.