LA Tech Athletic
Communications
Mason Robinson launched a three-run blast in game one for his first-career home run, during Tech’s three-game sweep of Rice. – Photo by Donny Crowe
The Louisiana Tech baseball team secured a 6-4 win in game one, and a 7-3 triumph in game two in a Saturday twin bill over the Rice Owls. The Bulldogs clinched a series sweep with the pair of victories in front of a crowd of 2,006 from J.C. Love Field.
LA Tech (15-6, 3-0 C-USA) combined for 25 hits and 13 runs in Saturday’s sweep, while holding the Owls (9-13, 0-3 C-USA) to 13 combined hits and seven runs.
“I’m so proud of our guys,” head coach Lane Burroughs said. “It’s so hard to sweep anybody in a three-game set in college baseball, but our guys stayed with it all weekend. They showed toughness, perseverance and endurance. I’m proud them for hanging in there and finishing it off today. It’s a little different start to league play than we had last year, so hopefully we’ll build off this. We aren’t sneaking up on anybody now. We may have a lot of new players, but sweeping Rice will serve notice around the league, and teams will be ready for us.”
Senior shortstop Dalton Skelton was unconscious at the plate throughout the weekend, hitting .538 with two doubles, a triple and a home run. Skelton notched a team-high 14 bases through the series, while slugging a team-high 1.077. With a base hit in each game this weekend, he also extended his team-best hitting streak to 13 consecutive games.
As a team, Tech hit .365 for the weekend, paced by seven different Bulldogs notching four or more hits throughout the three-game set.
Tech pitching held the Rice lineup to .189 batting average, while striking out 20 over three games.
With the sweep, Tech has now won nine of its last 12 meetings against the Owls, and improved to 10-2 at the friendly confines of J.C. Love Field this season.
Tech returns to action with a pair of midweek contests, taking on Northwestern State on the road on Tuesday night, and hosting ULM on Wednesday evening. The ‘Dogs return to C-USA play next weekend on the road at UAB.