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RUSTON – The Bulldogs are set for another edition of Louisiana Tech baseball, beginning their 56th season playing at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park. LA Tech opens the 2026 campaign with the Houston Christian Huskies for a four-game slate on Valentine’s Weekend.
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Date/Time: Feb. 13-15, 2026
Location: J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park
Watch: ESPN+
Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats
Series History: LA Tech leads, 10-1
LA Tech Weekend Rotation: RHP Declan Dahl, LHP Hudson Rowan, LHP Luke Cooley, RHP Brooks Roberson
HCU Weekend Rotation: RHP Joshua Caravalho, RHP David Lopez, LHP Jacob Cyr, RHP Ben Smith
 
The Bulldogs open up the 2026 season with several familiar faces, as well as many new faces in the clubhouse. 23 of the 43 players on the roster are newcomers, nine of which are true freshmen. Those 23 players make up 53% of the roster with the true freshmen making up 39% of the newcomers.
 
Declan Dahl highlights the 12 pitchers that signed with the Bulldogs prior to the 2026 season, having been named JUCO Pitcher of the Year after a stellar showing in 2025 while playing at Seminole State College in Seminole, Okla. He posted a 9-3 record with a complete game under his belt, boasting a 3.14 ERA with a K/9 rate of 9.17. He fanned 73 batters through 71.2 innings and 143 total through 128.2 frames during his two-year tenure with the Trojans, along with a solid 1.21 WHIP for his career.
 
Hudson Rowan and Nick Greaney, both transfers from Florida State, provide pitching depth for Cooper Fouts‘ staff along with Logan Simmons, Cole Blackwell and Riley Fisher joining the Bulldogs from the portal. The freshman additions of Thomas Allen, Caleb Short, Jackson Jones, Drew Ferguson and redshirt freshman Ethan Judice will also look to make a splash in their first season of collegiate baseball.
 
Ouachita Baptist transfer Wesley Scott brings in a wealth of experience having made 98 starts through two years at OBU. In 2025, he batted .324 with 40 runs scored, 11 doubles, a pair of triples and eight homers. He drove in 37 runs, stole 26 bases and posted a 1.002 OPS in his second season with the Tigers. For his career, he batted .305 with 75 runs, 106 base hits, 22 doubles, five triples, 15 jacks and 80 RBI and just one double play he grounded into through 347 at-bats.
 
Nathan Houston (Arizona Western College) and Hayden Gustavson (State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota) join the Bulldogs out of the portal and provide depth to Lane Burroughs‘ batting lineup as well as his defense. Gustavson brings in a rocket arm from behind the plate as well as some all-around fielding abilities to play at different positions in the field. Both Houston and Gustavson bring in the skills to deliver some big-time base hits for the Bulldogs this spring.
 
Houston batted .368 through 193 at-bats last season with 60 runs scored, 71 hits, 15 doubles, three pumps and 38 RBI and was one of the most efficient baserunners in the conference with 41 stolen bases in 2025. Gustavson was a career .332 hitter at SCF with 55 RBI, 15 doubles, five triples, five homers and 62 runs scored. He threw out eight of his nine career would-be basestealers last year.
 
Freshman Casey McCoy looks to make a big splash for the Bulldogs in his first year at the college level, having been named D1 Baseball’s Preseason CUSA Freshman of the Year prior to Opening Weekend. Already earning the starting role at second base, the Prairieville native is one of the many young players that Burroughs is anticipating to make an impact for his squad.
 
A proven winner, McCoy was a three-time First Team All-State, All-District, All-Metro and All-Region honors recipient during his career at Dutchtown High School.
 
18 guys on the 2026 roster still feel the sting after falling to Jacksonville State in the CUSA Tournament twice in the three games the ‘Dogs played in Lynchburg, with sights set on securing a fourth CUSA Championship since 2021 and making their second-consecutive NCAA Regional appearance for just the third time in program history and first time since the 1986 and ’87 seasons.
 
Lane Burroughs brings back all three of his All-CUSA selections in Sebastian Mexico, Trey Hawsey and Brooks Roberson, who were all Second Team selections and Hawsey and Roberson were listed on the CUSA All-Freshman Team. Roberson dominated on the mound, earning him CUSA Freshman of the Year honors in 2025.
 
Despite missing some playing time due to an injured hamstring, Mexico led the LA Tech squad with a .315 average, .997 OPS, 12 homers, 57 RBI and a .602 slugging percentage. The Baldwinville, Massachusetts native tied the single-game program record with two triples in the series opener at Sam Houston before being forced to exit due to injury. Upon his return to the starting lineup, Mexico didn’t skip a beat by posting a six-game hit streak with four multi-hit games and a pair of three-hit games in that span. In the final three games of that hitting streak, he smashed a homer in each of those games, including a 3-4 day with a grand slam and 6 total RBI to secure the series win over FIU.
 
The senior also played a massive role in securing a series win over Middle Tennessee on the road, belting a three-run no-doubter over the right field wall to eliminate a five-run deficit in the ninth inning, the largest comeback in the ninth inning by a Louisiana Tech team since April 28, 2008. He hit his second grand slam of the season in a midweek win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, where he picked up a career-high 7 RBI with a grand slam and a three-run blast.
 
Brooks Roberson made an impact early on in the season, earning him a consistent starting spot in the Bulldogs’ weekend rotation. He picked up a 5-4 record with a 4.90 ERA in 11 starts and 16 apperances, fanning the third-most batters for LA Tech with 64 punchouts and holding opponents to just a .235 average. In just his second career appearance on the mound, the Lubbock, Texas native fired off 5.2 hitless innings allowing just one earned run on a pair of walks while striking out seven batters against Southern Miss. Roberson earned his first win at Wichita State after going 7.1 innings allowing just one run on seven hits, a walk and striking out four Shockers.
 
He then went on to secure the winning decision in his next three outings at Sam Houston, vs. Kennesaw State and vs. FIU, striking out 15 batters in 14.2 innings and allowing just three earned runs. After suffering his first CUSA loss at WKU, he fanned a career-high nine batters at Jacksonville State despite the ‘Dogs falling to the Gamecocks, 4-0. He went six full frames allowing just one run on three hits and two walks.
 
As Lane Burroughs said before the start of the 2025 season, Trey Hawsey had the most raw power he had ever seen from a freshman in his college coaching career. He showed that with nine homers to open up his college career, marking the fifth-most homers by a freshman in program history since 1994. The first of his career came in the season opener at Sam Houston before having back-to-back games with one at UL-Lafayette and two at Middle Tennessee. He then hit five homers in a six-game span, including three-straight in the season finale vs. Liberty and the first two series games vs. DBU.
 
The West Monroe native drove in 30 RBI with 26 runs scored, 46 total hits, seven doubles, a .295 average with an OPS of .943.
 
Zeb Ruddell, Colton Coates and Eli Berch are others returning that saw significant playing time in 2025, with all three looking to be a part of the Opening Day starting lineup. Ruddell transferred prior to the 2025 season from LSU and Berch came in from Ole Miss. Ruddell is looking to be the center field mainstay in 2026, transitioning from left field for majority of 2025 with Garrison Berkley patrolling center. Coates was one of two players (Michael Ballard) to start and play in at least 56 games. The Southaven, Mississippi native drew 42 walks to lead the team and finish top-five in CUSA in that category. Berch was the primary backstop for the Bulldogs, making 49 starts in 52 games played. He threw out 17 would-be basestealers and held a .995 fielding percentage with just two errors on 419 chances.
 
Blake Hooks was the lone Bulldog selected to the 2026 CUSA Preaseason All-Conference Team, despite LA Tech’s three postseason selections last season. The right-handed reliever from Petal, Miss. led CUSA with nine saves, which also was among the top 25 in NCAA Division I. Listed on the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List, Hooks held a perfect 3-0 record with a 2.78 ERA in 25 total appearances last year. He struck out 46 batters through 35.2, and held opponents to a staggering .205 average. The graduate had just five outings allowing at least one earned run, and earned four of his saves through his first five appearances of the season.
 
Hooks hardly ever saw more than two innings in an appearance, except for his second relief outing in the series finale vs. Maine (3 innings) and a career day in the series opener at WKU. He threw four full innings allowing no earned runs (two scored unearned), on three hits, one walk and seven strikeouts, a new career high in his Bulldog career.
 
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