Louisiana Tech (5-3) defeated the #4 Ole Miss Rebels (6-2) on Tuesday night and were leading the game once again on Wednesday before the rain delay ensued, and the game was eventually canceled. Ole Miss was ruled the winner by technicality since they were winning at the time that the last complete inning was played.
GAME ONE | Bulldogs rally from 4 down on the road, powered by explosive 5th inning.
WIN | Landon Tomkins (2-0) LOSS | Jackson Kimbrell (0-1)
Despite building a 4-0 throughout the early innings, Greg Martinez and Isaac Crabb were able to weather the storm when necessary and prevent the heavy-hitting Rebels from knocking any out of the park.
In the 5th with the bases loaded, Will Safford hit a double off the right-center wall, scoring two runs for the Bulldogs.
Later in the inning with two outs and two on base, Brody Drost hit a bomb to center field, giving the Bulldogs a 5-4 lead.
With all the momentum on their side, Burroughs decided to call on Jonathan Fincher to close out the 5th inning. Fincher capitalized on the huge opportunity and shut out Ole Miss to conclude the inning.
The Rebels would come back to tie it 5-5 in the bottom of the sixth, but the Bulldogs would respond immediately with a huge Dalton Davis hit to score in Logan McLeod to take a one-point lead.
Landon Tomkins held the lead for the Diamond Dogs in the 7th and 8th innings, holding the usually high-scoring Rebels scoreless.
Ethan Bates came up clutch in the 9th inning, striking out Peyton Chatagnier for the win and his second save of the season.
Tuesday’s victory marked Louisiana Tech’s first road win over a Top 5 team since 2004, when they defeated #4 Rice in Houston, Texas.
GAME TWO | After the Bulldogs took the lead in the 7th, a weather delay, and the Rebels’ officials halted the rally.
During the game, Ethan Bates led things off early for the Bulldogs, hitting a homer to center to give Tech a 1-0 lead.
Later in the 4th, Walker Burchfield hit a beam to right center field to score in Jorge Corona, extending the lead to 3-0.
The Rebels quickly responded in the bottom of the inning with a lead-off homer and two additional runs, to tie the game at 3.
Ole Miss added another bomb in the bottom of the fifth to give the Rebels a 4-3 lead.
Logan McLeod doubled in the top of the 7th and eventually scored via an Ethan Bates sacrifice fly. Dalton Davis hit a beam off the wall to score in Brody Drost and give the Bulldogs a 5-4 lead.
The weather delay was announced with Jorge Corona at the plate with a 2-0 count, and Ethan Bates on third with two outs.
Ultimately the game was determined to be completed, which reverted the score by to 4-3 Ole Miss. The Rebels led 4-3 after six full innings of play.
After the game was called in favor of Ole Miss, Lane Burroughs was discussing the game being canceled and stated, “We don’t care. We will come back up here and finish the final 3 innings.”
UP NEXT
Louisiana Tech will host the Northwestern Wildcats (0-6) in a three-game weekend series beginning on Friday.
First pitch is scheduled for 6 pm on Friday, 2 PM on Saturday, and 12 PM on Sunday.
All three games with be broadcast on CUSA.tv.
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