RUSTON – The Diamond 'Dogs fell short of extending their perfect record to 5-0 Tuesday night at the Love Shack, falling to the McNeese Cowboys by a score of 8-3.
 
It was a rather lackluster night at the plate for the Bulldogs, collecting just seven hits and striking out 13 times. LA Tech was off to a hot start with Colby Lunsford belting his third homer of the season in the first inning for a two-run blast after Colton Coates led the frame off with a walk.
 
It was the second time this season the graduate third baseman homered in his first at-bat, the third time he started the game with an RBI and the fourth time starting off with a base hit.
 
Landon Fontenot was efficient in his first start on the bump this season, tossing three scoreless innings punching out three Cowboy batters while allowing just two hits. The sophomore southpaw retired the side in order to start the game including a backwards K for the final out.
 
The Stonewall native didn't allow his first hit of the game until the sixth batter he faced with two outs in the second, and began the third with back-to-back strikeouts.
 
McNeese started to find their stride offensively in the fourth with a leadoff double before a couple of groundouts put the Cowboys' first run on the board. McNeese would later take a 3-2 lead in the fifth following a two-run home run.
 
The Bulldogs were held scoreless for five consecutive innings with chances to put runs across, but the Cowboys' pitching staff held LA Tech in check. McNeese increased their lead to two in the seventh with an RBI double before Lunsford's second homer of the day and fourth of the season swiftly made it a one-run game again.
 
The 'Dogs only managed a pair of hits in the final two frames while a big four-run ninth inning by the Cowboys put a stamp on the midweek game and handed Tech their first loss of 2026.
 
LA Tech looks ahead to their first road trip of the season in Memphis, Tennessee with a pair of games scheduled against Ohio State on Friday, February 20 at 12 p.m. CT and Saturday, February 21 at 5 p.m. CT. The 'Dogs will face Memphis on Saturday at 12 p.m. CT prior to the second Ohio State game.
 
Quotables
 
Head Coach Lane Burroughs:
"It's hard to lock in for 56 games a year, and that has been our challenge all year [to the team]: Can you lock in and focus for 70 games—if you want to play a long time in the postseason, then you hope to play 70 games. We showed the team today the Dave Roberts speech to the Dodgers in their locker room, in their first team meeting about how hard this game is and how everybody is out to beat you. We don't have the luxury in our conference to drop midweek games at home. If you start doing that and you want to get in a regional, you're just going to have to win games down the line. We have to find a way to regroup—we struck out way too many times tonight. I'm not taking anything away from McNeese's pitching staff, but from my vantage point we were swinging at balls outside of the zone. Basically, they were done throwing fastballs and were going to just throw off-speed pitches. We did not do a good job of laying off those pitches, we did not do a good job of laying off of elevated fastballs. We struck out 13 times, and it's unacceptable—I don't care who we're playing. We had opportunities—we got ahead in the game on Lunsford's homer and you have them right where you want them at home. I didn't think they were bringing much energy, and that's the time to put them away. Credit to their bullpen, they just kept showing different looks. Our margin of error at our level is very slim. If we want to play in a regional, and get to where you want to go, then we've got to find a way to win these ball games."
 
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