RUSTON - Louisiana Tech will play its first home games of the 2020 season when the Bulldogs welcome Maine to Ruston for four games in three days.
 
The Bulldogs opened the season 5-3 with two wins over no. 24 UL-Lafayette and losses to Troy and no. 11 LSU. Tech dropped its first series of the year to Troy last weekend, but avoided the sweep with a convincing 9-0 win on Sunday.
 
The Louisiana Tech pitching staff currently ranks 3rd nationally and 1st in Conference USA with 3 shutouts. The Bulldogs also rank 15th nationally in ERA (1.83), 19th in WHIP (1.00), and 26th in BB/9 (2.74).
 
As such, the Bulldogs will continue to use their normal weekend rotation of Jonathan Fincher, Tyler Follis, and Jarret Whorff. True freshman Seth Traweek has been added to the rotation this weekend and will make his first collegiate start in Saturday's second game.
 
Offensively, Parker Bates leads the Diamond Dogs with a triple-slash line of .444/.543/.889. The senior has also blasted 3 home runs and totaled 13 RBI. Redshirt freshman Adarius Myers has contributed in the DH spot by slashing .263/.364/.474 with 3 extra base hits and 5 RBI. 
 
Maine is still searching for its first win of the season after dropping games to Villanova, Campbell, and Purdue last weekend. The Black Bears will start Nicholas Sinacola (0-2, 4.50 ERA), Matthew Pushard (0-1, 4.50), and Colton Carson (0-1, 4.50). A starter for the fourth game is TBD.
 
Hernen Sardinas leads the Black Bears at the plate. Sardinas is hitting .364 with 2 doubles and 4 RBI. Alex McKinny enters the weekend with a slash-line of .273/.333/.500 and 4 RBI.
 
Game Information
Date: February 28 – March 1
Time: 6 p.m. | 2 p.m. (DH) | 11:30 a.m.
Location: Ruston, La.
Venue: Ruston High School Baseball Field
Live Stats: latechsports.com
Twitter Updates: @LATechBSB
 
Media
Live Video: cusa.tv
Radio: KNBB 97.7 FM | Louisiana Tech Athletics App
PxP: Dave Nitz
 
Noting the Diamond Dogs
 
Junior college transfer Jarret Whorff was a late choice as the Sunday starter, but he's provided a boost to the Bulldog staff in his first two outings. The Winnsboro, Texas-native has thrown 15.1 shutout innings to begin the 2020 campaign, more than any other pitcher in college baseball.
 
With just a single season under his belt, Jonathan Fincher already owns a place in the LA Tech record books. The redshirt-sophomore set a new school record last season by striking out 14.20 batters per 9 innings, outpacing Bulldog great Eddie Holman by nearly 2 K's per 9. Now a starter, Fincher is coming off an outing in which he struck out ten Troy batters in six innings of work.
 
In 2019's regular-season finale, Tech relief pitcher/ironman/swiss-army knife, Kyle Griffen, made the Tech record books, appearing in his 33rd game of the season. The Sulphur, Louisiana, native broke the previous eight-year record held by Caleb Dudley (32 in 2011). For his career, Griffen has amassed 66 appearances on the mound - a ways to go to catch Dudley's career-mark (a Tech record) of 110.
 
Longtime play-by-play man of Louisiana Tech Athletics, Dave Nitz, enters his 45th season calling Bulldog baseball games. Nitz is currently the longest tenured active play-by-play voice in college baseball.
1. Dave Nitz (Louisiana Tech - 45th year)
2. Jim Ellis (Mississippi State - 42nd year)
     David Kellum (Ole Miss - 42nd year)
    John Cox (Southern Miss -42nd year)
5. Mike Reis (Southern Illinois - 41st year)