RUSTON, La.- Middle Tennessee baseball (17-18, 5-9 CUSA) dropped its second straight to the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (20-16, 8-6 CUSA) 8-2 in a Saturday afternoon matchup.

The Blue Raiders had a similar start to game one of the series, with a Dean O'Neill RBI opening up the scoring. The senior slugger singled to center, scoring centerfielder Owen Nowak from second base.

Middle Tennessee held this 1-0 lead until the bottom of the fourth, when the LA Tech bats worked two runs around on senior righty David Horn Jr.

Horn had a solid outing for the Blue Raiders, striking out five over 5.1 innings pitched with four earned runs on his line. The Bulldogs picked up four total runs in the sixth inning against Horn and right-hander Gavin King, pushing the score to 6-1 in favor of LA Tech.

Tyler Minnick responded in the Blue Raiders' next trip to the plate, belting his sixth home run of the year on a solo shot to left field. 

LA Tech scattered two more runs in the bottom of the seventh with two RBI singles.

Left-hander John Micheal Pickens and right-hander Cole Cates combined for a scoreless 1.2 innings late in the ballgame for the Blue Raiders, picking up a strikeout each.

By the Numbers:

37: First baseman Dean O'Neill picked up his team-leading 37th RBI of the season today. This places O'Neill third in all of Conference USA in runs batted in.

43: With five strikeouts today, David Horn Jr. extended his team lead in the strikeout department to 43.

12: Blue Raider catcher Tyler Minnick is now up to 12 runners caught stealing on the season from behind the plate.