MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Diamond 'Dogs ended the Grind City Classic with a perfect 3-0 record, improving to 7-1 on the season. Saturday afternoon opened up with an 8-5 win over host Memphis Tigers followed by a 9-3 win to secure a second win of the weekend over the Ohio State Buckeyes.
With Saturday's two wins, head coach
Lane Burroughs took over sole possession of the second-most wins by a Louisiana Tech head coach with 317 wins, passing Barry Hinton's 316 wins.
Memphis Game Recap
It was a slow start offensively for Memphis and Tech with three scoreless innings to start the game. The 'Dogs struck first in the fourth after the first three batters of the inning reached safely to load the bases with no outs.
Trey Hawsey was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame followed by back-to-back singles from
Colby Lunsford and
Sebastian Mexico.
With one out on the board,
Cade Patterson drove in the first run of the game on a fielder's choice to give Tech a 1-0 lead.
The side was retired in order for the 'Dogs in the fifth and sixth innings before making it a 2-0 game in the seventh.
Eli Berch led the inning off with a double to the left center gap before advancing on a sacrifice bunt and scoring on a passed ball by the Memphis catcher.
Memphis would put their first run on the board in the bottom half with a leadoff homer, but Tech answered back with a six-spot in the top of the eighth.
Casey McCoy led off with a base hit through the left side before finding himself on second with one out following a stolen base by the freshman second baseman. Hawsey drove in McCoy with a base hit through the right side and moved up to second on a wild pitch. Lunsford drew a walk and Mexico poked a base hit to shallow right field to load the bases.
A swinging strikeout gave the Tigers two outs with the bases loaded, but
Cade Patterson delivered a clutch two-run double to the right field corner before
Wesley Scott capped off the inning with a three-run blast over the right field wall for his first round-tripper as a Bulldog.
Memphis attempted a comeback in their half of the eighth, scoring four on a two-run homer, an error and an RBI base hit, but that's all they would manage for the rest of the contest.
Luke Nichols earned his second save of the season, pitching the ninth inning and getting a double play and strikeout to end the game.
Hudson Rowan was consistent in his second start on the mound, improving to 2-0 and maintaining a perfect 0.00 ERA on the year with six scoreless innings. The southpaw scattered three hits and a walk while striking out six batters.
Lunsford extended his hitting streak to seven games, and
Drew Ferguson and
Jackson Jones each picked up their first career strikeout on the mound.
Sebastian Mexico ended the Memphis game with three hits, his first of 2026 and sixth three-hit game as a Bulldog.
Ohio State Game Recap
The Bulldog offense was more impactful to start the second game of their Saturday afternoon, scoring seven runs across the first four innings and scoring at least one run in five of the eight innings the Bulldogs had a chance to bat.
Tech loaded the bases in the bottom half of the first with a leadoff walk by
Colton Coates, a double from Hawsey and a four-pitch walk drawn by Lunsford. Mexico looked to drive in the first run with a fielder's choice hit to third base, but Coates was called out on the force at home. The next at-bat, Scott put Tech on the board with a two-run base hit to the left center gap.
The bats continued to deliver for Burroughs' offense with McCoy leading off with an infield single followed with Coates driving a two-bagger to right field to put runners on second and third with no outs. Hawsey made it a 3-0 game with a sac fly before Lunsford made it a four-run lead for the 'Dogs with an RBI groundout.
Ohio State put themselves on the board in the top of the fourth with an RBI knock, but Tech's offense showed no signs of slowing down with three more runs on the board in the home half of the inning. Coates ended up on second with a base hit and a fielding error by the Buckeye first baseman and scoring on an RBI double delivered by Hawsey.
Hawsey came around on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch before Mexico and Scott drew back-to-back walks followed with Patterson extending the lead to six runs with an RBI base knock.
The 'Dogs and the Buckeyes exchanged runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to maintain the six-run gap. McCoy drove in a run on an RBI groundout in the sixth and Mexico plated a run in the seventh with a base hit to the left field line. Prior to Mexico's hit, Lunsford extended his hitting streak to eight games with a one-out double pulled to left field and showcased his speed by scoring on Mexico's batted ball.
Brooks Roberson improved to 2-0 on the mound, tossing 5 1/3 innings allowing two runs on four hits, three walks and striking out six Buckeye hitters.
Kade Parker slammed the door on Ohio State in relief, tossing the final 2 1/3 innings of the game allowing no runs on two hits and picking up four strikeouts.
The Bulldogs return to the Love Shack on Tuesday, February 23 for a midweek battle with Northwestern State at 6 p.m. CT and host Southern Miss for a three-game weekend series February 27-March 1. Game 1 is set for 6 p.m., Game 2 at 4 p.m. and the series finale set for 1 p.m. CT.
Quotables
Head Coach Lane Burroughs:
"It's been a long day, we got here about 9:30 a.m. and I think we've been here about 11 hours. I'm just proud of our guys, especially in the response from the other night against McNeese. That was the main message to the team was to respond this weekend, and I thought they did. We came in here and won all three games against two good teams, and two games against a Power 4 team. So, I couldn't be happier and more excited for our guys. I thought
Brooks Roberson was electric. He had a lot of pitches, but he had all three of his pitches working. I thought our defense played really good again. I felt like all three of our starters this weekend was really good. Ohio State is a good team and I think Justin Haire is a great coach, and I think they're going to win a lot of games this year. That was two big wins for us.
Wesley Scott had some huge hits for us in both games with his homer and two-run double. He went to Ouachita Baptist, a Division II school, and we picked him up this summer. He's a tremendous player, but also an unbelievable human being. He works his tail off, and he's not an outfielder. We brought him in as an infielder—he's been that his whole life—so for him to adjust to a position that he might not have ever played, I thought he was very clutch today. I told the team they have a chance to be really good, but they just have to stay hungry and stay humble, and keep working. But the response from Wednesday, to come up here and win all three games handily, in my opinion, and I couldn't be prouder and more pleased with our club. I appreciate the recognition for the second-most wins in LA Tech history, but none of those victories have I swung a bat or fielded a ball or much less thrown one. It's all about those Jimmies and Joes, and it's about surrounding yourself with great coaches and people who are a lot smarter and better than you. That's one thing I have done very well in my career is hiring extremely good assistant coaches, and we've had the opportunity to coach some amazing players, and that's what it's all about."
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