JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Freshman pitcher Brooks Roberson threw a career-high nine strikeouts, but the Louisiana Tech bats only mustered three hits as the Bulldogs fell 4-0 to Jacksonville State on Saturday afternoon on Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium.
 
Louisiana Tech's (27-22, 11-11 CUSA) only real threat came in the top of the first. After Sebastian Mexico walked, Michael Ballard ripped a two-out, two-strike pitch down the leftfield line for a double. However, a groundout to the first baseman ended the threat for the Bulldogs.
 
Roberson put himself in a jam in the bottom of the second. The freshman hit the leadoff batter before tallying his third strikeout of the game. The next batter reached base with four straight balls and Jacksonville State (31-20, 13-10 CUSA) loaded the bases with a single to right. Roberson settled down to get the next batter to swing on strike three, then inducing the nine-hole to ground out to second.
 
The Gamecocks got on the board in the next inning with a leadoff solo home run that just got inside the rightfield foul pole.
 
Roberson went back to work and proceeded to strike out four of the next six batters. The right-hander ended his day with 6.0 innings pitched, giving up just one run on three hits with nine strikeouts to just two walks.
 
With Roberson out of the game, Jacksonville State led off the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back singles. The home team scored one run on a double steal with no outs. The Gamecocks added one more to take a 3-0 advantage after seven.
 
Jax State added one more in the eighth on a solo shot for the final margin.
 
Garrison Berkley and Trey Hawsey had the only other hits for LA Tech in the game. Berkley hit a double in the fourth, and Hawsey had a single in the sixth.
 
Game 3 of the series is set for Sunday, May 11 at 10 a.m. CT. The game can be streamed on ESPN+ or listened to on 97.7 FM or the LA Tech Athletics app for the radio broadcast.
 
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