Bulldogs Thwart Trojans in Midweek Tilt

LITTLE ROCK – Louisiana Tech never had one giant outburst on offense, but the visiting Bulldogs put up runs in five different innings on their way to a 7-4 win over the Little Rock baseball team at Gary Hogan field on Wednesday night.
 
Louisiana Tech (16-9) got two runs each in the first and fourth innings and added one more run each in the sixth and seventh innings to take the win. The Trojans (13-15) fought back to tie the game at 2-2 with a run each in the first and third inning, but Louisiana Tech continued to pull away after that.
 
"We're in a dark sport right now, but we can't start questioning ourselves," head coach Chris Curry said. "The season is going to have its ups and downs, and we're in a rough spot that we haven't experienced yet. We have to take a deep breath, quit putting so much pressure on ourselves and execute one pitch at a time. I believe in this club's makeup, character and ability, and it'll come back around."
 
Down 6-2 entering the bottom of the eighth inning, the Trojans had their best chance to make up the deficit.
 
Little Rock picked up two straight singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs, chasing pitcher Graham Ahlrich in the process. Ryan Scott was the next Little Rock batter, and he brought Zach Baker and Hayden Martin home with a single up the middle. Dalton Thomas followed by loading the bases again with a single.
 
That's when pitcher Adam Atkins – who replaced Ahlrich before Scott's at-bat – settled down. Atkins proceeded to strike out the next three Trojan batters, silencing the home crowd as Little Rock ended the inning with three runners left on base and the tying run on second.
 
After the Bulldogs added one more run in the top of the ninth, Little Rock was unable to get the three runs to tie the game in the bottom half. The Trojans grounded into their third double play of the night to end things after Baker got on base with a single.
 
The Trojans picked up eight hits on the night, reaching at least seven hits for the 28th consecutive game. Hunter Owens had two hits and scored two of the team's runs while Baker picked up two hits. Scott had a hit and added three RBIs, and Thomas had the team's other RBI.
 
Starter Will Hazen (1-4) got the loss for the Trojans after going 3.1 innings and allowing four earned runs on three hits. The junior struck out one Bulldog batter.
 
The Trojans gave up two runs in the top of the first inning on a double down the left-field line after Hazen allowed a walk and a single to the two batters before. The Bulldogs' rally began after Hazen recorded the first two outs of the game consecutively.
 
Little Rock answered right back in the bottom of the inning, cutting Louisiana Tech's lead in half. Hunter Owens started the inning with a triple to deep left-center field. The next batter, Ryan Scott, brought Owens home with an RBI groundout to second base.
 
In the bottom of the third, the Trojans got the tying run home when Owens began the inning with a single up the middle. He was balked over to second base and moved to third when Scott grounded out to first base. Dalton Thomas brought Owens across the plate with a sacrifice fly to right field, knotting the contest at 2-2.
 
Louisiana Tech regained the lead in the top of the fourth. The Bulldogs' first batter of the frame was hit by a pitch, and he eventually scored on a single to left field by Raphael Gladu. Keenan Wingfield replaced Hazen in the thick of the inning with one out and runners on second and third. He quickly got a strikeout, but Jordan Washam beat out the throw on a weakly hit infield single to short to score the Bulldogs' Chandler Hall from third. The inning ended with the Bulldogs leading 4-2 after Cameron Knight threw Washam out attempting to steal second.
 
Louisiana Tech added one more run to its lead in the sixth inning, loading the bases and then getting a deep single off the center field wall to bring home one more run. In the seventh, the Bulldogs got one more, this time unearned, to make it a 6-2 edge for the visitors at that point.
 
Wingfield would pitch 1.2 innings for the Trojans and get one strikeout. Dylan Slayton, Cody Daylor, Zach Ours, Cody McGill and Jacob Rateliff all pitched for Little Rock as well, combining for four strikeouts over five innings pitched.
 
"I'm firmly confident that this team will come out ready to go on Friday," Curry added.
 
The Trojans stay at home this weekend, hosting Georgia State for a three-game series starting Friday at 6 p.m.