Louisiana Tech (20-6, 3-0) will travel to Miami, FL for a Conference USA series at FIU (13-12, 4-2) this weekend.

Dates/Times | Thursday 5:30 PM, Friday 5:30 PM, Saturday 11 AM

Location | FIU Baseball Stadium in Miami, FL

TV/Stream | ESPN+

Radio | SportsTalk 97.7 FM/LA Tech Athletics App

Louisiana Tech HC | Lane Burroughs (254-148 in 8th season at LA Tech)

FIU HC | Rick Witten (34-46 in his 2nd season at FIU)

Pitching Probables | LA Tech LHP Luke Nichols (3-0, 4.30) vs FIU RHP Cameron Knox (1-2, 2.79), LA Tech RHP Reed Smith (2-2, 6.75) vs FIU RHP Owen Puk (0-2, 10.95), LA Tech RHP Turner Swistak (4-0, 5.55) vs RHP Joel Pineiro (2-1, 5.64)

Scouting the Diamond Dogs

Key Players | DH Ethan Bates (.360, 6 HR, 39 RBI), CF Cole McConnell (.388, 10 HR, 41 RBI), 1B Dalton Davis (.343, 4 HR, 28 RBI), 2B Mike Ballard (.303, 14 RBI), SS Kasten Furr (.317, 2 HR, 14 RBI), LF Adarius Myers (.321, 12 RBI), C Jorge Corona (.311, 3 HR, 18 RBI), RHP Grant Hubka (3-0, 3.32), RHP Sam Brodersen (2-1, 2.57), RHP Ethan Bates (0-0, 0.89)

Louisiana Tech picked up its 8th win in 9 in an 8-4 victory over ULM on Tuesday night.

Cole McConnell finished with 2 doubles and 2 RBI for the Bulldogs in the win. McConnell leads the nation with 41 RBI this season.

Jorge Corona stepped into the 3-hole offensively with Dalton Davis out due to injury and perhaps his best game of the season with 3 RBI.

Jacob Havern, Caden Copeland, Grant Hubka, Sam Brodersen, and Ethan Bates delivered 6.2 scoreless innings of relief work in the win.

Scouting the Panthers

Key Players | SS Alex Ulloa (.386, 4 HR, 17 RBI), RF Jeff Liquori (.330, 6 HR, 27 RBI), DH Ryne Guida (.311, 3 HR, 22 RBI), RHP Orlando Hernandez (1-0, 0.56), RHP David Eckaus (1-0, 2.45)

Rick Witten's team appears to be much improved in 2024 after going 21-34 in his first season at FIU last season.

The Panthers are hitting .290 as a team and are averaging 7.4 runs per game. With a team OPS of .870 they'll certainly challenge the LA Tech pitching staff this weekend.

On the mound, FIU has a team era of 5.83.

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