@AAMU_Baseball drops first of three in Louisiana

Box Score Boxscore

RUSTON - Louisiana Tech scored three runs in the first inning and held on late in the game for a 7-5 victory over Alabama A&M Friday night in the series opener at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park.

Benjamin Ryder was charged with the loss for Alabama A&M after allowing four runs on four hits in two innings on the mound. Dakota Smith came on in relief of Ryder in the third and gave up one run on three hits with two strikeouts in 2.0 innings. Caleb Bowen gave up the final two runs of the game in two innings, before Payden Khun pitching the final two innings for the visiting Bulldogs.

The host Bulldogs wasted no time jumping on top to make it 3-0 in favor of LA Tech in the first.

Alabama A&M answered back in the second with a run of its own after Jordan Friend singled to score Andrew Utterback and cut LA Tech's lead to 3-1. In the bottom half of the second, the back-and-forth continued as Tech took a 4-1 advantage.

One run in the third made it a 5-1 lead for the Bulldogs from Louisiana Tech, but the Maroon & White continued to claw its way back into the game with a run in the fifth thanks to an RBI single by Ramon Nelson.

It was a two-run long ball in the bottom half of the fifth that gave Tech its final two runs of the game and stretched the lead to 7-2 over A&M.

The Bulldogs from "The Hill" scored three runs in the seventh and eighth innings combined with the help of three LA Tech errors to make it a tight 7-5 ball game. The host Bulldogs would get the visiting Bulldogs to end the top of the ninth before they could add any more to the score board.

Austin Hulsey and Jordan Friend each recorded two hits and an RBI apiece for Alabama A&M, while Dustin Dhanani and Nelson also had RBI's in the loss.

The series continues at 3 p.m. on Saturday with freshman right-hander Braden Bristol set to start on the mound for the Bulldogs. Alabama A&M will counter with right-hander Ryan Ahrens.

Live stats will be available via Game Tracker.

For more information on Alabama A&M athletics, visit aamusports.com. Fans can also find the Bulldogs on Twitter at @aamubulldogs or on Facebook at Facebook.com/Alabama-AM-Bulldogs.

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