RUSTON – Louisiana Tech baseball started off hot from the start in the season-opening 17-5 victory over the Houston Christian Huskies, beginning with a two-run homer by ULM graduate transfer
Colby Lunsford in his first at-bat as a Bulldog in the first inning. The Diamond 'Dogs (1-0) looked strong offensively as the game progressed, putting a stamp on the day with a seven-run third inning followed by eight more runs plated through the final three frames of the seven-inning run rule at the Love Shack.
Casey McCoy picked up his first collegiate hit to open up the third before advancing to second on an errant throw to the HCU dugout. A flyout to right field put the freshman 90 feet from home before an RBI groundout allowed him to plate his first career run.
With the bases cleared, Lunsford and
Sebastian Mexico knocked back-to-back doubles to give the 'Dogs a four-run lead early on.
Zeb Ruddell was hit by a pitch and
Wesley Scott drew a walk to load the bases with two outs.
Eli Berch saw good pitch selection in his at-bat, drawing a walk to push the advantage to five and keep the bases juiced.
Cade Patterson capped off the inning's offensive display with a no-doubter grand slam, the second of his young career.
The Huskies erased the goose egg on their half of the scoreboard with a two-out RBI double in the fourth, but the 'Dogs continued their surge at the plate.
Colton Coates drew a leadoff walk followed by
Trey Hawsey getting hit by a pitch. Lunsford, at this point already with a home run and a double through two plate appearances, belted his second homer to plate three more and give Tech a 12-1 lead.
An RBI knock by Coates in the fifth pushed the lead to 12 runs before a bases-clearing two-out double and an RBI knock from HCU made it a 13-5 game going into the home half of the sixth.
The bases were loaded once again for Patterson, this time with just one out after Mexico, Ruddell and Berch all drew walks for the redshirt sophomore. Patterson, hometown kid from Ruston, delivered with his second grand slam of the night and third of his career. His two grand slams marked him the first Bulldog since 2000 to hit a pair of grand slams in the same game. TJ Soto hit two grand slams in a single inning against Western Kentucky on March 25, 2000.
The Huskies found themselves with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, looking for a chance to extend the game another half inning, but a third strikeout of the frame for
Nick Greaney sealed Tech's season-opening victory.
Notables
- Tech's 17-5 victory is the largest margin of victory in a season opener since Feb. 21, 2021 with an 18-1 win over Air Force in Baton Rouge
- Tech's 17 runs are also the most in a season opener since the same game
- Lane Burroughs won his third-straight season opener at LA Tech and improves to 8-2 in season openers as the Diamond 'Dogs' skipper
- Burroughs earned his 311th win at LA Tech and 424th of his career, five wins shy of tying Berry Hinton's 316 wins for the second-most in program history
- Cade Patterson's eight RBI are the most by a Bulldog in a game since Hunter Wells plated nine in the Ruston Regional against Rider on June 4, 2021
- The Bulldogs scored seven runs in an inning for the first time since April 25, 2025 against DBU and at least 15 runs in a game since the same contest
Quotables
Lane Burroughs Opening Statement:
"I've been here 10 years—I don't remember a more beautiful opening night. We were blessed with great weather, a beautiful night. We had a great crowd, man what a great crowd. I know this ball club—we try to keep it quiet, but we know there's a lot of expectations and I was really proud of them with the way they handled that tonight. Obviously, they're a little sped up and they're going to be a little amped up. I thought
Declan Dahl was really good once he settled in, he gave us the five [innings] we needed—that's why he's pitching on Friday night. He's sliced us up all fall and spring to the point where he never faced adversity. There were times in intersquads I had to put runners on base so he would face adversity, so he's been like that the entire time [he has been here]. I actually thought [Houston Christian] did a good job with him—they got his pitch count up and some three-ball counts, and we had to get him out after the fifth but he did what we anticipated him to do. Obviously, our offense was clicking tonight.
Colby Lunsford—hustle double, playing his tail off with two homers also.
Cade Patterson—I honestly don't remember seeing the same guy hit two grand slams in one game. But look, that's why we have him batting in the eight-hole. He had a good year last year, struggled some this fall and early spring, but it makes our lineup so long when you have a hitter like that at the bottom of the order. He can do what he did tonight. I don't like the two errors, but we'll clean that up a little bit. All in all, I was very proud of our offense and very proud of Declan. Our bullpen needs to be better, but I thought
Nick Greaney did a good job getting us out of there at the end and I thought
Riley Fisher did good as well."
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