NEW ORLEANS – Another game meant another masterful pitching performance for a Louisiana Tech starting pitcher as left-hander Jonathan Fincher limited Tulane to just a single hit in a 2-0 Bulldog victory at Turchin Stadium on Friday night.
 
Fincher posted a career performance against the Green Wave, facing the minimum in seven of his nine innings on the mound for the first complete-game shutout of his career. The left-hander retired the first six batters of the game and sat down the final 12 Tulane hitters to close out an impressive 2-0 road victory.
 
LA Tech (11-5) has now allowed just nine hits and one run over its past 27 innings, shutting out Arkansas and Tulane while holding Ole Miss to just a single run on Tuesday. Fincher's one-hit, complete-game shutout also handed Tulane ace Braden Olthoff his first loss in a Green Wave uniform. Tulane entered Friday night's game 8-0 with the Oceanside, California native on the mound.
 
"Jonathan was on tonight," head coach Lane Burroughs said. "You could just tell how the ball was coming out of his hand.

"He earned the right to finish. I am very proud of him. He was on and had all his pitches working while filling up the strike zone."
 
The Bulldogs struck first on Friday, getting on the board early with back-to-back singles to open the game. Leadoff man Taylor Young slapped an infield single to open the inning before two-hole hitter Hunter Wells smacked another single to right field, moving Young to third base. Centerfielder Parker Bates then crushed a ball to the right side for an RBI groundout, narrowly missing out on Tech's third straight hit to open the game as Tulane first baseman Luis Aviles smothered Bates' hard-hit grounder to the right side.
 
Tulane (9-8) and LA Tech traded scoreless frames until the fifth inning, which is when a bit of two-out hitting from the top of the order doubled the visitor's lead. Young kept Tech alive in the fifth with a two-out walk, quickly swiping second base to put a runner in scoring position for Wells. Wells then slapped a ground ball through the left side to bring home Young to make it 2-0 Diamond Dogs in the fifth.
 
The Green Wave, however, would not go quietly in the bottom half of the fifth, picking up two base runners after a throwing error on Fincher and a double from Simon Baumgardt. Baumgardt's double to left field was Tulane's first and only hit of the evening.
 
After left fielder Adarius Myers made a nice play to prevent Baumgardt's ball from rolling to the wall, he delivered the defensive play of the night just two pitches later, completing a 7-2 double play after catching a fly ball from Chase Engelhard and throwing a dart to home plate where catcher Kyle Hasler tagged out Tulane's Ethan Groff at the plate. Tulane never put another runner on base following Myers' incredible throw to end the fifth inning.
 
The Bulldogs are now 3-1 in Friday night contests this season, moving to 8-3 against in-state teams in 2021. The Diamond Dogs have struck first in 11 of their 16 games this season, posting a 10-1 record in games where they score first.  
 
LA Tech will return to Turchin Field for a 2 p.m. first pitch on Saturday. The Bulldogs will look to secure the series victory with right-hander Ryan Jennings on the mound.