RUSTON, La. – Similar to the past two years for Louisiana Tech's baseball program, the Diamond Dogs' opening weekend has seen its fair share of changes and adjustments. After a two-day delay, however, LA Tech will open its 2021 season with a two-game set in Baton Rouge, playing a neutral site contest against Air Force on Sunday before closing out the trip with a Monday night matchup at No. 7 LSU.
 
First pitch on Sunday is set for 4 p.m., while Monday's game will begin at 6:30 p.m. Both games will be played in LSU's Alex Box Stadium.
 
The Diamond Dogs entered the week with three games scheduled over the weekend, opening their 2021 campaign with Notre Dame on Friday. Travel issues due to winter weather in Northern Louisiana pushed the game against the Fighting Irish back to Saturday before COVID-19 issues within the Notre Dame program canceled the game altogether.
 
The Sunday-Monday series in Baton Rouge will mark the first time head coach Lane Burroughs has coached on a Monday in his career as a Division I head coach.
 
Sunday's matchup against Air Force will not be open to the general public, but it will have options to follow the action via live stats or through a streamed radio broadcast at latechsports.com. 
 
In addition to live stats and a streamed radio broadcast, Monday's game against the Tigers will also be streamed live on SEC Network+. ESPN+ subscribers also have access to watch games on SEC Network+.

Dave Nitz will be delivering the play-by-play live on KNBB 99.3 FM for both of this weekend's matchups.
 
Sunday's game against the Falcons will be the first time LA Tech has stepped on the diamond in 348 days. The Diamond Dogs defeated Southeastern Louisiana 14-3 in their final game of the COVID-19-shortned 2020 season.
 
Tech is 27-23 in season-opening games since 1970. The Diamond Dogs are 3-1 under head coach Lane Burroughs in season openers, defeating No. 24 UL-Lafayette 2-1 to open the 2020 season. Kyle Crigger nailed down the save with three innings of hitless work to close out the game.
 
Probable Starters
Sunday: LHP Jonathan Fincher (2-2, 2.66 ERA, 26 K, 7 BB) vs. RHP Zach Argo (1-1, 4.47 ERA, 42 K, 21 BB in 2019)
Monday: RHP Ryan Jennings (Did not pitch in 2020) vs. RHP AJ Labas (1-2, 3.55 ERA, 20 K, 3 BB)
 
Scouting LSU
LSU is coming off a 12-5 season in 2020, holding a dominant 11-2 record in Alex Box Stadium. The Tigers earned Power Five victories over Indiana and Texas this past season, knocking off Indiana in back-to-back games to open the year. LSU suffered setbacks to Baylor and No. 15 Oklahoma to in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Classic at Minute Maid Park in 2020, only scoring five runs between the pair of defeats.
 
The Tigers had three players bat over .300 a year ago – outfielder Giovanni DiGiacomo (.351), outfielder Daniel Cabrera (.345) and first baseman Cade Beloso (.313). LSU had a four-way tie at the top in RBI with four players tallying 12 RBI apiece. Beloso and pitcher Devin Fontenot were both named to the Preseason All-SEC Team earlier this month.
 
LSU returns 22 lettermen from this past year's team. The Tigers closed the 2020 season on a five-game winning streak and rank inside the top 10 in three different polls – No. 7 in Collegiate Baseball, No. 9 in USA Today and No. 10 in Baseball America.
 
Head coach Paul Mainieri notched his 600^th win at LSU before the end of the shortened 2020 campaign. He currently has 1,467 career victories and ranks No. 1 in the NCAA in active wins as a head coach.
 
Scouting Air Force
Air Force finished this past season with a 7-12 record and returns 21 letterwinners. The Falcons bring back 11 pitchers, five of which have started a collegiate game. Eight of the team's nine primary starters return for the 2021 campaign.
 
Senior infielder Cole Blatchford was named to the Mountain West Preseason All-Conference Team after leading the team in a plethora of categories, including batting average (.343), slugging percentage (.627), hits (23), runs (16) and home runs (three).
 
The Falcons finished the 2020 season with a 5.43 ERA, .965 fielding percentage and a .257 team batting average. Fellow Falcons Cayden Zimmerman and Gabriel Garcia join Blatchford in batting over .300 from this past season.
 
Head coach Mike Kazlausky, a 1991 Air Force alumnus, begins his 11^th season in charge at his alma mater. He holds a 205-298 record as the team's head coach.
 
Tech Notables

• All six of Louisiana Tech's seniors from the 2020 season – Manny Garcia, Bryce Fagan, Hunter Wells, Kyle Griffen, Tyler Follis and Parker Bates – are returning for the Diamond Dogs in 2021. The Bulldogs turned down multiple offers to play professional baseball in order to return to Ruston for one last season. The returning seniors have combined for 120 wins over four years in a Bulldog uniform, including a 39-win season in 2018.
• Louisiana Tech added eight newcomers to its 2021 roster in the fall, all of which were pitchers. Four of the new Bull- dogs are junior-college transfers and four are first-year students from high schools in Georgia, Maryland and Texas. Two of LA Tech's new pitchers are southpaws, giving the Bulldogs seven left-handed pitchers on this year's roster.
• After posting a breakout season in 2020, returning senior Parker Bates has collected four Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year honors. Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball, Baseball America and Conference USA named Bates their Preseason POTY. Other accolades for Bates include third-team Preseason All-American honors from Collegiate Baseball and Preseason All-Conference USA honors from Perfect Game Baseball. D1Baseball also listed Bates as its No. 18 prospect from the C-USA for the 2021 MLB Draft. The Tyler, Texas native recorded a .422/.531/.891 (AVG/OBP/SLG) triple-slash line during the shortened 2020 season.
• Taylor Young has been a tough out since he arrived in Ruston for the 2018 season. After entering his junior season 11th in program history with 84 walks, Young recorded 10 walks in the shortened 2020 season to move up to tie for seventh in the all-time rankings. Young sits tied with Johnny Walker (1975-78) and is six away from Drew Pregeant's (1993-96) mark of 100 to jump into the top five. LA Tech's record holder in walks, Toronto Blue Jays' manager Charlie Montoyo (1985-87), has a strong grip on first place with 172 bases on balls.
• Since 2016, the Bulldogs have played 40 games against opponents ranked inside the top 25, including three contests this past season. The Diamond Dogs are 23-17 in those games against ranked opponents, going 2-1 against top-25 foes in 2020. LA Tech has five victories over ranked SEC opponents – three against Arkansas, one against Texas A&M and one against LSU. Under head coach Lane Burroughs, the Bulldogs are 12-10 against ranked competition, sweeping No. 24 UL-Lafayette on the road before dropping a contest to No. 11 LSU in 2020.

Series History
Air Force – LA Tech and Air Force will meet for the first time in program history on Sunday. The Bulldogs have never played a game against a team from Colorado.
 
LSU – The Tigers lead the all-time series 16-6. Tech is 1-2 against LSU under head coach Lane Burroughs, knocking off the No. 15 Tigers 12-1 in Baton Rouge. Hunter Wells and former 'Dog Mason Mallard combined for eight hits and seven runs scored in the runaway victory. No. 11 LSU defeated LA Tech 7-1 in the most recent matchup on Feb. 26, 2020.
 
What's Next
LA Tech will remain in Southern Louisiana and travel west to take on UL-Lafayette. Tuesday's contest will begin at 6 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+.