RUSTON, La. – The Sam Houston bats were held in check by Louisiana Tech on Friday as the Bulldogs picked up a 2-0 win in the series opener at JC Love Field.
Coltin Atkinson struck out five and allowed just one run in 5.0 innings, but LA Tech's (31-13, 9-4 CUSA) Reed Smith was even better as he punched out five hitters of his own in 5.1 shutout frames with only three hits allowed to earn his fifth win of the season.
Smith gave way to a trio of arms out of the pen, including Ethan Bates who threw a scoreless ninth for his 13th save of the year.
Four Bearkats (24-18, 7-9 CUSA) picked up hits in the game, including Malachi Lott who had a double in the fourth.
Atkinson worked around a leadoff double to keep the Bulldogs off the board in the first inning, getting a pair of strikeouts of Ethan Bates and Jorge Corona to close the frame. He went on to add three more punchouts to his tally over the next four innings, but was lifted after the fifth inning after the Bulldogs finally got to him for a run.
An infield single and consecutive 2-out singles did the damage to put the Bulldogs ahead, going up 1-0 on a base hit by Cole McConnell.
LA Tech added another in the seventh, using a pair of soft singles and a walk to load the bases for McConnell who delivered a sacrifice fly to left field to up the lead to 2-0.
UP NEXT
The Kats will try to square the series with the Bulldogs on Saturday. The game is scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. start and will be aired on ESPN+.
POSTGAME NOTES
- With his five strikeouts, Coltin Atkinson upped his career total to 235, tying him with Dennis Kainer for third all-time at Sam Houston. Next on the list is Richard Kainer's total of 239. Stephen Prihoda holds the all-time record with 285 strikeouts from 1992 to 1995.
- It was the fourth time this season Atkinson has gone at least 5.0 innings with one or less runs allowed.
