Box Score

LAFAYETTE, La. - The Louisiana Tech baseball team scored two in the second, four in the third, five in the fourth, two in the seventh and two in the ninth, handily defeating UL-Lafayette 15-2, in front of 4,777 at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field. Junior right fielder Mason Robinson hit for the cycle on a 4-for-6 night at the plate, while the Tech offense cranked out a season high in hits and runs.

"I'm very proud of our guys tonight," head coach Lane Burroughs said. "We hadn't been playing very well in midweek games, and were having trouble getting Leal runs coming into tonight, but I thought we saw the ball really well tonight, and took some great swings. I thought everybody up and down the bench was dialed in. I thought we put together quality at-bat after quality at-bat. I loved the way we played - with a lot of energy and passion, and we just got after it tonight. Nothing better than coming down here, and walking out with a victory."

Tech (26-13) starter David Leal (3-2) was able to get some run support, after receiving just two runs total in his previous two starts. The 6'-5" southpaw went seven innings, scattering just three hits and striking out six. Leal has now pitched at least six innings in eight of his nine starts in 2018.

Mason Robinson was the catalyst to the Tech offense all evening, as the Cartersville, Georgia, native, struck for a career-high in hits (four) and RBI (five), while hitting for Tech's second cycle this season (Hunter Wells vs. UTSA on April 8).

Tech got in the board early in the second inning, after the leadoff man reached for the second consecutive frame, as Parker Bates drew a leadoff walk. With nobody out, Mason Robinson wasted no time in crushing the first pitch he saw deep over the wall in left, for his fourth home run of the season, giving Tech a 2-0 lead.

Then, after a quick bottom half from Leal, the Bulldog offense doubled its second-inning output, plating four in the top of the third. Mason Mallard reached as the leadoff man, via a dropped fly ball in center, then moved to second after a Tanner Huddleston walk. Both runners moved up after a passed ball, and Parker Bates came through with an RBI sac fly into right, scoring Mallard. Then, Robinson lined a triple past the diving left-fielder Bourgeois, scoring Huddleston, and giving Tech a 4-0 edge. RBI singles from both Cole Warken and Hunter Wells closed out the inning, and gave Tech a 6-0 lead after three.

In the fourth, the Bulldogs again batted around, notching five more runs, and extended the lead to 11-0. Huddleston got things started with an RBI triple into left center, followed quickly by a Parker Bates RBI single into right. A sac fly from Clayton scored Bates, and then Wells lined a single into center, scoring two, and extending the Tech lead to 11-0.

After allowing a one-out double in the fourth, Leal put it in cruise control, and retired the final 11-consecutive batters he faced, snuffing out any type of a comeback attempt.

Heading into the seventh inning, the only Bulldog without a base knock was shortstop Dalton Skelton. However, with one out, the team leader in home runs added to his tally with a majestic solo shot into right, giving Tech a 12-0 edge. A Robinson RBI-single later on, put Tech ahead 13-0, and drew the right-fielder to a double away from making history.

Braxton Smith entered to pitch for Leal in the eighth, and worked around a leadoff hit-by-pitch. Smith plunked McKinnon on a 1-1 pitch, and saw him advance to third with one out. However, Smith buckled down and dialed up a pair of swinging strikeouts, stranding the runner at third, and ending the inning unscathed.

In the ninth, with the game decided, Robinson drove a ball deep into left center, scoring Seth White, who led off the frame with a walk. When Tech's 14th run flashed up on the board, Robinson stood at second, with the illustrious cycle. Freshman Taylor Young (who drew three more walks, extending his team lead), came through with an RBI-double of his own, scoring Robinson.

UL-Lafayette would tack on two in the ninth, but reliever Graham Ahlrich induced a groundball to third, that Graham Hackbarth took to the bag himself, for the force-out, sealing the Tech triumph.

The 15 runs were the most any Tech team has scored against the Cajuns since a 1975 17-8 victory. Tech has now won four of the last five meetings between the two schools.

The Bulldogs face a quick turnaround with a trip north to take on Conference-USA foe Marshall in a three-game set this weekend.