Tornado Forces La. Tech. To Be Road Warriors

by • Featured

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

RUSTON, La. — On April 25, 2019 at 1:53 a.m., a tornado with peak wind gusts of 145 mph ripped through Ruston, La. that caused $15-20 million in damages to Louisiana Tech’s sports facilities which included the baseball stadium J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park.

A mother and son were killed when a tree fell on their home in Ruston.

The EF3 tornado caused extensive damage in this city as trees crashed into houses and roofs were peeled off buildings.

The vehicles of 6-7 baseball players were totaled by the tornado, according to Louisiana Tech. Head Coach Lane Burroughs.

Because of the damage, a complete stadium rebuild has been taking place and caused the baseball team to be road warriors with no home games this season.

 “A year ago, we played Arkansas-Little Rock Tuesday on our home field,” said Burroughs.

“In the bottom of the ninth, Hunter Wells hit a walk-off homer.

“The next morning, we all got on a bus and headed to McNeese St. Then we stayed in Lake Charles, La. that night which is a short drive to Houston where we were scheduled to play a series against Rice.

“When I went to bed, I put my cell phone on silent mode and went to sleep. About 3 a.m., my cell phone kept lighting up which woke me up. I must have had 20 messages and missed calls. I immediately called my wife, and she told me that there had been a tornado that touched down in Ruston about an hour earlier, and fortunately she was fine.

“One of our managers stayed back, and he was one of the guys who tried to call me. So I called him back, and he was on the field at the time. He said there were probably 100 people standing on the field, and the tornado had destroyed the baseball facility.

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