Final Stats

Box: LA Tech 5, Charlotte 2

RUSTON, La. - Both Chase Lunceford and Jordan Washam drove in two runs each and the Bulldog pitching staff stranded 10 Charlotte baserunners in Louisiana Tech's 5-2 series-clinching victory over the 49ers Friday night at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park in Ruston.

LA Tech (13-6, 3-2 C-USA) has now won the opening two games of the Conference USA series against the 49ers to take a 2-0 lead over Charlotte (11-12, 2-3 C-USA) on the weekend.

It was a hot start for LA Tech after Lunceford's two-run home run off the scoreboard in right field gave the Bulldogs an early 2-0 lead over Charlotte in the middle game of the series. The 49ers cut the lead to two heading into the bottom of the sixth, but LA Tech led the entire game and tacked on runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to help close out the victory.

"Chase's home run in the first was huge for us," head coach Greg Goff said. "It really gave us a boost early in the game and that is what we needed. Our pitchers did a great job tonight to get us to [Adam] Atkins at the end. With the crowd and the energy, our players are really feeding off of it and it has been amazing. These are great guys that play hard."

Tyler Clancy started on the mound for LA Tech and allowed one run on four hits in four full innings of work, while the lefty struck out two and walked two batters in the outing. Casey Sutton (2-0) picked up his second win of the season after coming on in relief in the fifth and pitching 3.2 innings while allowed one unearned run on four hits while striking out three. Zack Hamilton pitched a third of an inning before Adam Atkins (3) came in with a runner on and no outs in the ninth and retired the 49ers for his third save of the season.

Charlotte starter Colton Laws (2-1) was charged with the loss after allowed three runs on four this and two walks in four innings on the mound. J.D. Prochaska, Nate Traugh and Matt Horkey also pitched for the 49ers in relief.

Following Lunceford's two-run home run in the first, Charlotte cut the lead to one when Brett Netzer led off the fourth with a double then came home to score on an RBI single by Drew Ober to make it a 2-1 Tech lead. The Bulldogs responded in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a lead-off single by Sean Ullrich, a stolen base and RBI single by Jordan Washam.

With LA Tech leading 3-1, Prochaska came in to pitch for the 49ers and walked the first two batters he faced in Raphael Gladu and Cody Daigle. After a sacrifice bunt by Lunceford advanced both runners, Ullrich hit a slow-roller to the first base line to earn an RBI and give the Bulldogs a 4-1 advantage.

Charlotte scored its final run of the game in the sixth when T.J. Nichting drew a walk to lead off the inning then later scored on a wild pitch and throwing error by Brent Diaz. But the Bulldogs responded immediately in the bottom of the sixth when Diaz tripled down the right field line to lead things off then scored when Jordan Washam drove in his second run of the game on a single up the middle to give Tech a 5-2 lead over the 49ers.

Jordan Washam reached base all four times in the win as the second baseman was 3-for-3 with a double, two singles and two RBI's to help lead LA Tech to a win. Lunceford also had two RBI's on the night thanks to his two-run home run in the first, while Ullrich was 2-for-3 on the night with an RBI and a walk. Taylor Love had a double in the win while Diaz's triple gave the Bulldogs a total of eight hits.

The series finale between LA Tech and Charlotte is scheduled for a 2 p.m. first pitch Saturday at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park in Ruston.

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