DALLAS – The Diamond 'Dogs (28-20, 15-8 CUSA) evened the weekend series in Dallas Saturday afternoon, downing Dallas Baptist (27-20, 15-8 CUSA), 5-4, at Horner Ballpark.
 
LA Tech was off to a 1-0 lead in the opening frame for the second-straight day on a solo homer from Colton Coates for his fifth of the year and nine in his career at Tech. DBU responded a frame earlier than Friday's contest, swiftly taking a 2-1 lead on a two-run homer in the home half of the first.
 
The Patriots extended their lead to two runs in the second with an RBI knock after leading off the frame with a walk. Their lead would hold until the third with the 'Dogs stamping three runs to take back the lead.
 
Coates knocked a two-out base hit before reaching third on a double from Eli Berch that was lodged in the left field wall, forcing a ground-rule double call to keep Coates at third. Sebastian Mexico drew to a 3-2 count before loading the bases with a walk.
 
Two pitches later on an 0-1 count, Matt Houston unloaded the bases with a double off the left field wall, giving Tech a 4-3 lead through three innings.
 
The 'Dogs' lead would hold until the fifth, with the bottom half opening with a leadoff walk and a base hit to put runners on the corners with no outs before a pitching change was made. The Patriots evened the score with an RBI groundout before Thomas Allen recorded a lineout and a flyout that left the go-ahead run stranded.
 
Both sides were quiet in the sixth outside of a pair of knocks from the Bulldog side that never scored. Coates picked up his third hit of the afternoon to lead off the seventh before back-to-back walks drawn by Mexico and Houston loaded the bases with one out.
 
Wesley Scott then came to the plate and battled to a 3-2 count before drawing a walk to put Tech on top, 5-4.
 
Allen retired the first six batters he faced before allowing a leadoff hit in the second, yet the runner was removed from the basepath following a double play before the freshman picked up a looking strikeout to end the frame.
 
A leadoff hit in the eighth would be the final baserunner DBU would produce, as Allen retired the final six Patriots batters to earn his fifth win of the season.
 
Allen ended the day with five shutout innings, allowing just two hits and no walks while fanning three.
 
The rubber match of the weekend series is set for Sunday, May 3 at Horner Ballpark. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. CT. Sunday's contest will be live streamed on ESPN+ and radio broadcast is available on 97.7 FM, the LA Tech Athletics app and the Varsity Network app.
 
Quotables
 
Head Coach Lane Burroughs:
"We needed to get in their bullpen today—we talked about that during our scouting report. It was imperative that we get into their bullpen, and we did today and were able to win the ball game. I thought we did a great job with [Ryan] Borberg and getting his pitch count up early on. I think it's Thomas Allen or Matt Houston that needs to be the player of the game. I thought Hudson Rowan gave us a great effort and a great start. His pitch count got up, but they didn't do a whole lot of damage. They got the early homer, but he calmed the storm. We rolled the dice bringing in Thomas when we did, but there aren't many kids or many freshmen in the country that will take the mound for five relief innings in a game like that, and he did it. We brought him in and he inherited runners on the corners with nobody out. They tie the game, and then he's pretty much just lights out for the rest of the way. We had some other guys ready to go, but we just hated to bring him out of the game because he had their number and he wanted it. He wanted to finish the game, and can't say enough about Thomas and what he did today against a really good hitting team. I'm just very proud of our guys for responding today to the loss from yesterday."
 
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