RUSTON – The Diamond 'Dogs (20-16, 8-6 CUSA) secured a series win over Middle Tennessee (17-18, 5-9 CUSA) Saturday afternoon at the Love Shack, downing the Blue Raiders 8-2. It is the first home series win for LA Tech since sweeping Delaware to open CUSA play March 13-15.
 
Middle Tennessee scored first for the second-straight day, drawing a leadoff walk before a hit-by-pitch gave the Blue Raiders runners on first and second with no outs. A one-out single up the middle brought in the lead runner, giving MTSU an early 1-0 lead.
 
The Blue Raiders threatened in the third with a walk and a double, but ran into a pickle for the second time in this series on a grounder to Colby Lunsford at third. The runner on third looked to go home, but got caught in a rundown as Lunsford fired a throw to Eli Berch at home. The runner was ultimately out on a 5-2-5-1-5-3 put out running back to the plate.
 
A sharp grounder up the middle the next at-bat was close enough for Colton Coates to make a play and get out of the inning unscathed.
 
Trey Hawsey broke up the no-hitter in the fourth with a base hit up the middle, followed with Coates putting the 'Dogs out in front with a two-run blast for his fourth of the year and first since March 21 at New Mexico State.
 
The Bulldogs strung together three consecutive base hits with one out in the bottom of the sixth. A fourth single by Casey McCoy was delivered with two outs, scoring Hawsey and Coates to extend LA Tech out to a 4-1 lead. Damage continued being dealt as Cade Patterson drove in a run with the fifth base hit of the frame going back up the middle of the infield.
 
Zeb Ruddell struck out swinging, but the ball was thrown into the dirt and away from the catcher, allowing McCoy to score the fourth run of the frame to give the home side a 6-1 lead.
 
In the first two games of the series, nine of the Bulldogs' 16 runs have been scored in the sixth inning.
 
The Blue Raiders would get a run back in the seventh with a solo blast, yet Tech would match it in the home half plus adding another to gain a six-run lead. Lunsford led off with a double before advancing on a wild pitch and scoring on an RBI knock by Coates.
 
Coates then advanced to second and scored on an RBI knock to right off the bat of Wesley Scott, putting the 'Dogs up 8-2.
 
The frame continued on as Scott stole second and ended up on third following a passed ball. MTSU would then load the bases on consecutive walks drawn by McCoy and Patterson, but a swinging strikeout left them stranded.
 
The Blue Raiders threatened in the eighth with a pair of singles to start the frame, but Luke Nichols left them stranded with back-to-back swinging strikeouts and a groundout.
 
The Bulldogs picked up consecutive games with 10+ hits for the first time since the final two games of the series against Delaware on March 14 and 15.
 
The series finale is set for Sunday, April 11 at the Love Shack with first pitch set for 1 p.m. CT.
 
Quotables
 
Head Coach Lane Burroughs:
"I'm extremely proud of our guys. The ball game today started off a lot like it did last night. Early on, their starter had us off balance—credit to him. We were caught in between a couple of pitches, and he was landing all of them. We were having some very uncomfortable at-bats and some very uncomfortable swings. We didn't have a hit until Trey Hawsey's single in the fourth, and then Colton follows up with a two-run homer. It was then that everyone loosened up and I thought we played great baseball after that. I thought Hudson Rowan was outstanding. He walked too many guys, and he was as some would say 'effectively wild.' It was a good, professional zone behind the plate, so the umpire wasn't giving a lot. Hudson's misses weren't big, but he had to work through some stuff. I thought Luke Nichols was outstanding. He had a long layoff in the sixth when we were scoring and they had a couple of pitching changes—we were concerned about him going out in the seventh. He gave up the homer but then had two big punchouts and a come-backer to get out of the eighth. I thought he was tremendous, and Riley Fisher was really good and efficient at the end. When they brought in their hard-throwing reliever—I think he was up to 98 on the radar gun—I thought we took some unbelievable swings off of him. Berch had a great swing, and Casey McCoy had the big two-out two-run hit. Cade Patterson had a great swing off of him. The guy was throwing big-league fastballs, but I felt like our guys were dialed in and locked it down. All in all, we won the series and that's great, but you have to be ready to come out and finish this thing off tomorrow. Great teams come out and finish it off. There's a fine line between great and good, and there's a fine line between good and average, and right now we're in a good place. The dugout is loose, they're having fun and playing with joy. This is what we've been waiting on—we went through the darkness, and now we're on the other side of it. It's fun to come to the ballpark right now, and I'm very proud of our guys."
 
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