RUSTON – The Diamond 'Dogs (14-8, 3-0 CUSA) secured their first walk-off win in nine innings this season, downing Central Arkansas (11-10, 1-2 ASUN) 5-4 in at the Love Shack Tuesday night.
 
The win extends the Bulldogs' win streak to four games, tied for the longest win streak for Tech this season and the third time the 'Dogs have had such a streak in 2026. Thomas Allen improved to a 2-0 record, tossing two perfect innings in the eighth and ninth with three strikeouts.
 
UCA jumped out to a 2-0 lead early with a two-run homer in the first. The 'Dogs answered back with a three-run homer off the bat of Zeb Ruddell to take the lead in the second. The one-run lead was extended to two in the following inning on a solo shot served to right field by Cade Patterson.
 
Landon Fontenot entered the game in relief in the third inning, and proceeded to fire off 4 2/3 innings of perfect baseball while striking out eight batters in the process. He struck out at least one batter in every frame he pitched, including two in the fourth and striking out the side in the sixth.
 
Back-to-back singles in the seventh forced a pitching change for Tech, which was followed with a game-tying two-run double with two outs by the Bears.
 
Allen entered out of the pen to start the eighth, striking out the first two batters he saw before retiring the next four batters that came to the plate, including a strikeout to end the top of the ninth and send the game to the home half with a tied 4-4 score.
 
Colby Lunsford hit a chopper with one out in the ninth to third base, appearing to have beaten out the throw but was called out by the first base umpire. After a review on a challenge from the Tech dugout, the original call was overturned and Lunsford was awarded a base hit to put the winning run on base.
 
With Trey Hawsey up to bat the UCA pitcher threw a ball in the dirt and ended up at the backstop, allowing Lunsford to advance to second and third with the Bears catcher unable to find the ball in time. The Bulldog first baseman drew a 3-0 count before getting jammed on an inside pitch.
 
The ball dribbled toward the left side of the infield, where the third baseman and shortstop both crashed in to make a play at the plate but neither player was able to pick it up, giving Tech the walk-off victory.
 
Colton Coates saw the only multi-hit performance on the night for Tech, yet seven batters in the starting lineup reached base safely in the win. Fontenot set new career highs with his longest single-game outing and the most strikeouts he's recorded in a game as a Bulldog.
 
The 'Dogs return to CUSA action, taking on the New Mexico State Aggies for their first conference test on the road this season. The series begins in Las Cruces on Friday, March 20 at 7 p.m. CT. Game 2 is scheduled for Saturday, March 21 at 7 p.m. with the series concluding on March 22 at 12 p.m. CT.
 
Quotables
 
Head Coach Lane Burroughs:
"I'm very proud of our guys—they kept fighting. It wasn't a pretty win at all by any means, but we'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day of the week. We had multiple chances to put the game away—we had the bases loaded twice with one out, didn't get it done. That's really the only disappointing thing all night, to me. But, I'm proud of our guys—they kept fighting and stayed in it. We hadn't won a midweek game in some time, and we hadn't had an actual walk off in quite some time, either. In his first start, I thought Joey Wittig's stuff was good. He had an 0-2 count and tried to go changeup away, and got too much of the plate and the guy drove it out of the yard. We decided to go with Landon after Joey saw the lineup once, and he was electric tonight. He was pumping strikes at a high rate, had multiple pitches working for him—we probably would not have made a move, but he was cramping bad so we went with Nate Crider. Crider had the advantage count, but made a mistake and the hitter drove it into the gap and tied the ball game. That happens. I also thought Thomas Allen was electric as he had been all year long. He continues to do what he does, and was fantastic tonight. Cade got the solo shot, Zeb with the three-run homer—had some good swings and we're off to the races early, but Central stayed with it, tied the game. We needed a game like this, and we needed to win a game like this. It was an ugly game for the most part, but I felt confident the entire night. Especially when Thomas went six up, six down—at the time I felt like if we get one man on, we could win the game and we did. We needed this in the worst way, and that's four-straight wins for us. We're playing good baseball, and again, I can't say enough how proud I am of the guys."
 
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