NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Diamond 'Dogs (18-16, 6-6 CUSA) extend their winning streak to three games after shutting out Northwestern State (21-11, 13-5 Southland), 7-0, at Brown-Stroud Stadium in Natchitoches. It is the first win for the 'Dogs over NSU on the road since 2022 and their first time shutting out the Demons in Natchitoches since 2016.
 
Colby Lunsford picked up the first hit of the day on the first pitch of the contest, but nothing came across for the 'Dogs in the opening frame upon getting retired on a fielder's choice and a double play.
 
The Demons followed up with leaving a pair of their own runners stranded in the first after leading off with a walk and getting a one-out single.
 
Drew Ferguson tossed two scoreless innings in his second career start, allowing just two hits and a walk. It's the third time this season the freshman has tossed at least two frames in an appearance.
 
The Demons saw their leadoff hitter reach base safely through each of the first three innings—a walk to lead off the first, an error in the second and a base hit in the third—as well as picking up a base hit in each of those frames.
 
The Bulldogs broke the scoreless tie with a four-spot in the fourth, with the first five Bulldogs of the frame recording a hit. Lunsford led the inning off with a base hit for the second time of the game before scoring on a double ripped down the right field line by Trey Hawsey. Colton Coates then put runners on the corners with a single followed with Eli Berch plating a run with an RBI knock.
 
Matt Houston loaded the bases with the fifth hit of the frame, and the third run of the frame was brought in after Wesley Scott was hit in the foot by a pitch. Cade Patterson then capped off the scoring driving in a run on a one-out groundout to second.
 
The Demons were retired in the home half by Connor Nation to conclude his second inning of the day, picking up a looking strikeout, a lineout and a fly out.
 
After the Demons collected four hits through the first three frames, the Bulldog pitching staff held the home side without a hit until the bottom of the seventh with a leadoff single.
 
A walk drawn by Scott and Cade Patterson getting hit by a pitch put two runners on, followed with Hayden Gustavson advancing both on a sacrifice bunt and Scott scoring the fifth run for Tech on a wild pitch.
 
The 'Dogs had runners on the corners with two outs in the eighth after Patterson drew a leadoff walk and Brecken Menuet advanced him to third with a hit, before back-to-back RBI knocks from Lunsford and Hawsey gave Tech a 7-0 advantage.
 
With the Bulldogs' 10 hits in the contest, it marks the first time to have 10+ hits in a game since March 22 and is the 11th time with double-digit hits in a game this season.
 
Landon Fontenot punched out a game-high four batters with 2 2/3 of shutout baseball, allowing just one hit and two walks. Nation earned the win to improve to 1-1 on the season, tossing his own pair of scoreless innings allowing two hits and fanning two Demon hitters.
 
The Bulldogs return home to host Middle Tennessee for a three-game Conference USA series, opening on Friday, April 10 at the Love Shack. First pitch of the series opener is set for 6 p.m. CT.
 
Quotables
 
Head Coach Lane Burroughs:
"I'm very proud of our guys for how they played tonight. This might have been one of our best all-around efforts of the season. Besides the one error, we played clean baseball all night. The thing I'm most proud of is our two-strike hitting all night. In the four-run inning, I think we had four hits with two strikes, and we battled and competed. We did a good job of getting the runners on third in to score—those are some things we've struggled with all year is our two-strike approach and getting runners in from third with less than two outs. I thought we put pressure on Northwestern State all night long, we ran the bases well going first to third. I thought Drew Ferguson was outstanding. He gave us the two innings we wanted from him; he showed some toughness. I thought Connor Nation was outstanding in his two innings. We tried to extend Landon Fontenot—it's a midweek, so you don't want to use as many arms as you don't have to. I thought Nate Crider coming in and getting the punchout, and Riley Fisher was good closing it out, and I'm proud of him for finishing it off."
 
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