RUSTON – The Diamond 'Dogs (21-16, 9-6 CUSA) secured their second CUSA sweep of the season, downing Middle Tennessee (17-19, 5-10 CUSA), 5-3, at the Love Shack on Sunday afternoon. Sunday's victory marked the sixth-straight win for the Bulldogs, their longest winning streak since 2025.
 
The last time the Bulldogs saw a stretch of six consecutive wins began on Tuesday, April 2 with a 16-6 win at UL-Lafayette and concluded on Saturday, April 12 with a massive 10-8 comeback victory over MTSU in Murfreesboro.
 
An RBI triple from Casey McCoy opened the scoring for the Bulldogs in the finale after Wesley Scott led off with a hit-by-pitch. It was the second triple of McCoy's career as he is one of five Diamond 'Dogs with a three-bagger this season.
 
The frame continued as Cade Patterson drove in McCoy on an RBI groundout, giving Tech a 2-0 lead with two outs. Brecken Menuet then drove a single through the middle of the infield, followed with stealing second and advancing to third on a throwing error by the Middle Tennessee first baseman.
 
The three-run inning concluded for the Bulldogs as Colby Lunsford ripped a line drive to the left-center gap, allowing Menuet to score with ease.
 
Landon Fontenot retired the first seven batters he faced on the mound, including striking out the side in the second before giving up a double for his first hit with one out in the third. However, the runner was left stranded on a foul out and a strikeout to end the frame.
 
The Blue Raiders would add three runs of their own in the fourth to tie the game, beginning the frame with the first three batters reaching base safely. A walk and an infield hit put two runners on before a double plated MTSU's first run.
 
A sacrifice fly made it just a one-run lead for the 'Dogs followed with a stolen base and an error to tie the game at 3-3 in the fourth.
 
The stalemate held until the seventh with the 'Dogs taking a 4-3 lead. Lunsford pulled a one-out double down the left field line before Trey Hawsey drew a walk to give Tech a pair of runners on the basepath. Colton Coates then lined a 2-1 pitch through the left side, bringing Lunsford home to plate the go-ahead run.
 
Eli Berch then loaded the bases with a base hit up the middle, but a strikeout and a flyout left three stranded.
 
Riley Fisher earned the win after tossing an inning of work in the seventh, punching out a pair of batters and leaving a runner stranded to maintain the 3-3 tie going into the bottom half. Thomas Allen earned his second save of the season, throwing the final two frames of the contest.
 
The freshman threw just 17 pitches while facing six batters, giving up one hit and inducing five groundouts.
 
The Bulldogs return to action at the Love Shack on Tuesday, April 14 when they host the Little Rock Trojans in Ruston. First pitch of the midweek contest is set for 6 p.m. CT.
 
Quotables
 
Head Coach Lane Burroughs:
"I'm just extremely proud of our guys. We say it all the time in our program—Sunday is about toughness, and we call it Championship Sunday. Because you're trying to get a sweep, you're trying to avoid getting swept, or you're trying to win a series. Today wasn't pretty, it was gritty. We said it last week at FIU—we'll take gritty over pretty any day of the week. I thought Landon Fontenot was outstanding. He threw a lot of pitches on Tuesday, so he didn't have a lot in the tank, but he gave us everything he had. I'm very proud of Landon. I felt like our bullpen won the game for us. Connor Nation came in and was so efficient, got us some huge outs. Nate Crider had runners on first and second with nobody out. MTSU is trying to bunt and he gets a strikeout on a two-strike foul ball. Now all he needs is a double play ball, and he goes and punches out the next two hitters. Nate is one of the few guys on the team that can get you a strikeout when you need it. We asked Fisher to come back in, and we knew he couldn't give us a lot but he could give us three outs, and he did a great job. Then Thomas Allen comes in in a high-leverage situation—we decided to go with him when we got the lead. He was really good and slammed the door, like he has all year. He's been so consistent for us and does not shy away from the moment, he runs to it. He's been a great pick up for us. Offensively it wasn't pretty at times—we had more freebies than strikeouts once again. That's something we've been cutting down, is our strikeouts. I thought Colton Coates coming through with his big hit the other way was huge. We made some moves—Casey McCoy is not an outfielder and we needed to get a true outfield out there when it's late in a tight game, so we moved Casey to second, Colton to short and McCann Libby came in for Brecken Menuet. After that, low and behold we get a double play and they turned it beautifully. Just extremely proud of our guys. When you're in winning streaks like we are right now, you have to find a way to win. And from where we were two weeks ago to now it's like two different ball clubs. Instead of finding a way to not win, they're finding ways to win the ball game now. We left Casey in because of the weekend he's had at the plate, and he gets the big solo shot to extend the lead. A two-run lead is a lot better than one going into that last inning."
 
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