LAKE CHARLES – The Diamond 'Dogs (24-18, 11-7 CUSA) drop Tuesday night's contest, 4-3, to McNeese (22-19, 10-11 Southland) at Joe Miller Ballpark in Lake Charles.
 
LA Tech displayed a series of productive at-bats in the opening frame, loading the bases on a Trey Hawsey single, Colton Coates double and Eli Berch getting hit by a pitch. Following a strikeout for the second out, Wesley Scott drew a 3-2 count before walking to take an early 1-0 lead.
 
McNeese struck the scoreboard in the third after getting hit by a pitch and scoring off an RBI double on the second at-bat of the frame. A one-out base hit and a stolen base gave the Cowboys a pair of runners in scoring position, with both being driven in on a sacrifice fly and a base hit to tie the game.
 
The Cowboys held their lead until the sixth inning, with the 'Dogs opening the frame with Scott drawing his second walk and advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt by Cade Patterson and a throwing error on the McNeese pitcher.
 
In an attempt to move Scott into scoring position, Patterson's bunt was hit directly at the pitcher's mound giving the McNeese hurler a chance to get the lead out at second. His throw missed the middle infielder's glove, allowing both Scott and Patterson to advance to scoring position with no outs.
 
Casey McCoy made it a one-run game with an RBI groundout before Lake Charles native Reid Snider drove a pitch back up the middle to score Patterson and tie the game. A single and a walk followed the load the bases, but McNeese escaped the inning with a pair of strikeouts to maintain the tie.
 
Down to the final two frames, McNeese led off the eighth with a double and a single to begin the home half with the go-ahead runner on third with no outs. McNeese then took a 4-3 lead with a sacrifice fly the next at-bat, but a lineout double play to Coates kept it at a one-score game with Tech's potential final at-bat coming up in the ninth.
 
A base hit from Scott led off the frame, putting the tying run on base before a pair of strikeouts and a flyout ended the contest.
 
The 'Dogs entered the Kennesaw State weekend with a perfect 20-0 record when outhitting opponents, but have dropped two of their last three contests despite collecting more hits than the opposing side.
 
Colby Lunsford picked up his fourth three-hit game of the season, the second-most on the team behind Trey Hawsey's seven. Hawsey picked up his team-leading 18th multi-hit game of the year and extended his hitting streak to 11 games—the longest streak by any Bulldog this season.
 
LA Tech returns to Conference USA play with a three-game series at home hosting the Missouri State Bears April 24-26. First pitch for Friday's series opener is set for 6 p.m. CT.
 
Quotables
 
Head Coach Lane Burroughs:
"The message after this game is I'm disgusted with the way we played. We had the bases loaded three times and couldn't score a run. I'm disgusted and I want to throw up. We pitched well enough in a midweek game, but we couldn't cash in. I have no doubt that these guys want to win, but these games are important. Every game is important—these midweeks are not throwaway games."
 
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