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Published May 15, 2024
PREVIEW | Diamond Dogs vs Liberty
Ben Carlisle  •  BleedTechBlue
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@BCarlisle37

Louisiana Tech (38-15, 15-6) will close out the regular season this weekend with a road trip to Liberty (22-29, 11-10).

Dates/Times | Thursday 5 PM, Friday 12 PM, Friday 3:30 PM

Location | Liberty Baseball Stadium in Lynchburg, VA

TV/Stream | ESPN+

Radio | SportsTalk 97.7 FM/LA Tech Athletics App

Louisiana Tech HC | Lane Burroughs (271-157 in 8th season at LA Tech)

Liberty HC | Scott Jackson (244-176 in 8th season at Liberty)

Pitching Probables | LA Tech RHP Reed Smith (6-3, 5.46) vs Liberty RHP Cole Hetzler (5-6, 4.65), LA Tech LHP Luke Nichols (4-2, 3.60) vs Liberty LHP Nick Moran (3-3, 4.69), LA Tech RHP Grant Hubka (3-0, 4.08) vs Liberty RHP Todd Hudson (1-4, 6.67)

Scouting the Diamond Dogs

Key Players | DH/RF Ethan Bates (.324, 15 HR, 67 RBI), CF Cole McConnell (.389, 17 HR, 65 RBI), 1B/DH Dalton Davis (.343, 12 HR, 47 RBI), 2B Mike Ballard (.330, 4 HR, 31 RBI), C Jorge Corona (.294, 12 HR, 36 RBI), RHP Sam Brodersen (6-1, 2.78), RHP Ethan Bates (2-1, 3.86, 14 saves)

Louisiana Tech wrapped the home portion of its regular season with a 3-game sweep of Western Kentucky.

Ethan Bates was tremendous at the plate for the Bulldogs throughout the series. The senior collected 3 hits Friday night, including a walk-off 3-run home-run to give the Bulldogs a 9-7 win.

In Tech's 7-1 win on Saturday, Bates delivered with a game-tying solo home-run in the 7th inning to ignite the Bulldogs offense.

Luke Nichols tossed his first complete game of the season in Saturday's 12-2 win over the Hilltoppers.

The left-hander has a 3.48 era in 33.2 innings pitch during conference play.

Scouting the Flames

Key Players | CF Kane Kepley (.342, 8 HR, 29 RBI), 2B Aidan Sweatt (.305, 4 HR, 37 RBI), LF Brayden Horton (.300, 11 HR, 38 RBI), RHP Garrett McLaughlin (1-1, 3.28), RHP Ben Blair (4-4, 3.92)

Liberty was swept at Dallas Baptist this past weekend to fall to 11-10 in conference play. They Flames currently sit in 4th place in the conference standings.

In game one of the doubleheader on Saturday, Liberty led 3-1 in the ninth inning before falling on a 3-run walk-off home-run.

The Flames are hitting .279 as a team and are averaging 6.9 runs per game.

Liberty has a 5.84 team era.

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