The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs baseball team defeated Florida International University 6-2 on April 3, evening their series at FIU Baseball Stadium in Miami. Freshman pitcher Thomas Allen delivered a standout performance from the bullpen, throwing the final four and two-thirds innings without allowing a run and striking out a career-high seven batters.
The game was significant for the Bulldogs as they sought to recover from previous losses and build momentum in Conference USA play. The victory brought their record to 16-16 overall and 5-6 in conference games.
LA Tech started strong with Sebastian Mexico leading off with a hit, followed by Colby Lunsford reaching base on an error. Trey Hawsey drove in the first run of the game with a single up the middle. In the second inning, Casey McCoy and Brecken Menuet added singles before Mexico drew a walk to load the bases. Lunsford’s sacrifice fly scored another run, and Hawsey added two more runs with a double.
Starting pitcher Hudson Rowan contributed four scoreless innings for LA Tech, striking out seven batters—a personal best since joining the team. Cade Patterson extended LA Tech’s lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning with his team-leading thirty-first RBI of the season.
Allen entered during a challenging fifth inning after Rowan issued three consecutive walks. He ended that frame by striking out two batters and continued his dominance through four more innings, earning his third win of the season.
Hawsey led all hitters with three hits and three RBIs—his sixth three-hit game this year and seventh overall as a Bulldog. It also marked his twenty-third career multi-hit game, ranking third among current players on the roster.
Head Coach Lane Burroughs said: “It felt good to have the handshake line again. Doug Strickel had a great message to the team—just keep getting up. It’s tough and it sucks, nobody likes losing, but you have to keep getting up and keep moving forward. They’re learning something out of this—we all are, learning something about ourselves. I couldn’t be prouder of these guys. They played their tail off tonight… When our guys play with intensity, but they play loose and with joy, then we can be hard to beat… Have one pitcher give us five, the other give us four, and they couldn’t have been much better tonight and we needed it in the worst way.”
The teams will meet again for their series finale on Thursday afternoon at FIU Baseball Stadium.
