By SCOTT D. LONGSTREET

sdl018@latech.edu

 

Tech baseball continued its hot streak last weekend, winning seven of its last ten games by beating Hawaii twice to open conference play, with scores of 6-1 on Friday and 5-4 on Saturday in Honolulu at Les Murakami Stadium.

Andrew Alsup, a junior, was named WAC Pitcher of the Week for his performance in two relief appearances.

The right-hander from Ruston totaled five and 2/3 innings pitched while allowing no runs or hits with six strikeouts and one walk on the weekend.

Tech (11-10, 2-0 WAC) got off to a strong start Friday, scoring three runs in the first four innings and controlled the game from then on, giving up only five hits to the Warriors (18-8, 0-2 WAC).

Freshman Jerico Jones and sophomore Albie Goulder led Tech’s offense with three hits and two RBI each.

Goulder added a two-run home run as well.

Brandon Hudson, a junior, added two more hits to the Bulldog hit total of 13 for the game.

Luke Burnett (2-2), a freshman, had  a solid outing on the mound. While pitching five and 1/3 innings, he gave up one run on five hits while striking out four.

Alsup finished out the pitching, going three and 2/3 innings without allowing a single hit or run and striking out three for his second save of the season.

The Bulldogs started slow on Saturday by committing three errors in the first inning, leading to three runs by Hawaii.

The offense then came to life in the sixth inning as the Bulldogs plated two runs and tacked on three more in the eighth inning and let the pitching of senior Amos Ramon shut down the Warriors in the ninth to earn his second save of the year, giving up only one hit with two strikeouts.

Senior Matt Lacy started on the mound and pitched five and 2/3 innings, allowing no earned runs on seven hits. Alan Knotts, a sophomore, pitched one and 2/3 innings of relief to earn his second win of the season.

Senior Mims Boyce led the offense with three hits and two runs scored. Ryan Hamilton, a senior, and Ramon added two hits each, while senior Joey McCarthy and Jones added one hit apiece.

The Bulldogs Sunday game against Hawaii was postponed due to severe weather on the islands. It will be made up the first week in May.

Prior to the games in Hawaii, Tech’s baseball team split a midweek doubleheader at J.C. Love field March 14, winning the opening game 14-5 and dropping the nightcap 9-4, as a rally in the late innings fell short.

Tech opened the game one of the doubleheader by scoring seven runs in the first two innings, and added two more in the fifth inning and five in the sixth to finish out the scoring.

Jones got the start and pitched five innings, allowing five earned runs on eight hits to earn his third win of the season with zero losses. Alsup got his first save of the year with two hitless innings of relief.

Rike led the offense, going 4-4 at the plate with four RBIs and a home run.

Hamilton, along with Ben Tabor, Adam Cobb and Chris Kersten all added two hits and a home run each. Tech hit six home runs in the game.

Lamar (13-9) jumped out early in game two, scoring six runs in the first four innings and held off Tech in the late innings with pitching and defense.

Tech had runners in scoring position in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, before Lamar’s defense ended the rallies each time.

Tech left eight runners on base in the final three innings.

McCarthy led Tech’s offense with two hits in three at bats and one RBI.

Hamilton, Lacy and Ramon added one hit each along with sophomore Brian Rike and Jones.

The Bulldogs are back in action again starting Thursday with a three game series in San Jose, Calif., against the Spartans of San Jose State before returning home for an eight game home stand starting next week.