RUSTON – The Diamond ‘Dogs (30-22, 13-11 CUSA) extended their winning streak to three games after opening the series against New Mexico State (22-30, 10-14 CUSA) with a 12-7 victory at the Love Shack.
With Thursday night’s win, the Bulldogs clinched their 30th win of the season under head coach Lane Burroughs. It marks his 10th 30-win season in his 13 years as a head coach and his seventh in eight full seasons at the helm of Louisiana Tech’s baseball program.
Logan Forsythe opened the game hot out of the gates, retiring the New Mexico State side in order in the first two frames including three strikeouts in the opening inning. Forsythe allowed a leadoff knock in the third but continued his dominance by striking out the next three batters to bring us total up to seven going into the fourth.
The power righty ended his outing with a new career-high 10 strikeouts in four innings, allowing six runs on six hits with two walks and earning his first victory as a Division I pitcher following a then-career high performance of nine strikeouts in his previous start at Jacksonville State.
“I’m extremely proud of our guys,” Tech head coach Lane Burroughs said. “It was a crazy game, a lot going on. One thing about New Mexico State—and we saw it last year when we went out there—they never stop. They’re used to because of where they play and the altitude, they give up runs and the ball flies out there. Their hitters know they have to score runs, and we knew they wouldn’t stop tonight. That’s one thing I really remember about their team is you can score as many as you want, they’re going to keep coming because they’re used to it, and they did that tonight. I thought Logan Forsythe—second-straight Friday, great start. The ball was exploding out of his hand. He got a lot of punchouts—10 strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings, your pitch count is going to get up when you strike people out. I thought after 103 pitches last Friday and now a short week, he got up to 89 and things were spinning for him. We probably brought Harland into a really tough situation, and one of their better hitters got on a ball and drove it out of the yard. I thought Nate Crider and Luke Nichols were outstanding. I thought the fact that Luke gave us three innings and we didn’t have to use [Blake] Hooks tonight with a five-run lead was huge. Hooks threw two innings two nights ago, I don’t know how hot he would’ve been, so I thought Luke Nichols was the player of the game to come in and get those three innings and keep it at bay, and he got a save out of that. Not to be negative, but I thought we left way too many runs out on the field tonight.”
The ‘Dogs were retired in order in the first before jumping ahead to a six-run lead in the second despite not recording a hit. After a leadoff fly out, Colton Coates drew a walk and Garrison Berkley and Brody Drost were both hit by a pitch to load the bases. Thaxton Berch entered the game for Berkley as a pinch runner as Berkley entered concussion protocol but entered back in the game when Tech was back out for defense.
Eli Berch brought across the first run on a sacrifice fly before Drost stole second and Will Safford drew a walk to load the bases once again. Sebastian Mexico then drew a walk to increase the lead to 2-0 before Michael Ballard hit into a fielder’s choice at second. The New Mexico State second baseman ran to second base to attempt the force out, but Mexico was able to beat him out to bring in another run for the ‘Dogs. Trey Hawsey was then hit by a pitch and Zeb Ruddell walked before a wild pitch capped off the frame and gave Tech a 6-0 lead going into the third.
Berch then hit his fifth homer of the season to push the ‘Dogs out in front by seven before an RBI groundout made it 8-0 through four innings. The Aggies answered back in the fifth with seven runs to make it a one-run lead for the ‘Dogs, but an RBI double from Ballard got a run back and gave Tech a 9-7 lead in the sixth.
New Mexico State saw eight-straight batters reach base safely on three walks, three singles, a double and a three-run homer before the Bulldogs’ 40th double play of the season ended the inning. The ‘Dogs now have nine-straight seasons and 12 of the last 13 years with at least 40 twin killings in a single season.
Berkley led off the seventh with a walk before swiping his team-leading 13th stolen base to put himself in scoring position. The Aggies then made a pitching change with Drost coming to bat, who advanced Berkley to third with a fly out before Eli Berch was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners with one out. Safford then reached base on a chopper to the New Mexico State pitcher who fired the ball to first, but it hit off the first baseman’s glove, allowing Safford and Berch to move to second and third with one out.
Mexico was intentionally walked to load the bases before Hawsey delivered a two-run double to increase Tech’s advantage to 12-7 going into the eighth.
The Aggies led off the inning with a base hit but the ‘Dogs ended the threat quickly with their second double play of the night. New Mexico State added an infield single on a close play at first, but a flyout sent the game into the home half.
Coates led off with a walk and stole second with Berkley coming to bat. The Bulldog center fielder then ripped a ball to center field with Coates holding at second on the fly, but the ball hit the ground next to a diving Aggie center fielder to put runners at second and third. Eli Berch drew a walk on a 3-2 count to load the bases, but a swinging strikeout and a fly out ended the threat.
Luke Nichols earned his second save of the year, tossing three scoreless innings allowing just three hits and fanning a pair of batters. Berkley hit his team-leading 15th double while Mexico tacked on his 53rd RBI of the year.
Ryan Harland made his 85th career appearance on the mound Thursday night, tying Jonathan Fincher for the third-most appearances by a Bulldog in program history. Ballard and Mexico both picked up multi-hit performances, and Ballard, Hawsey, Berch and Ruddell combined for nine of the team’s 11 RBI.
“We won the ball game, our hitters did a great job, but we could’ve scored a lot more,” Burroughs said. “There was a lot going on and there’s some stuff we have to clean up. When we get the bases loaded with no outs [or] one out, we can’t punch out. But we found a way to win, and Trey Hawsey had a huge two-run double with two outs. That was big, and I’m just proud of our guys. We got the big double play there in the eighth with Mike and Will, but all in all it’s a win, our 30th. Like I said, it’s a hard climb to get to 30 and every game is important from here on out. We’ve won three in a row and it’s fun to come to the ballpark again. That’s our first Friday win in quite some time, so that felt good to win on a Friday night.”
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