Will Louisiana Tech’s 12-1 win over LSU Tuesday night in Baton Rouge be a late-season spark?

And why am I starting this with a question? I never do that.

Until now.

Because life can, out of the blue, make you question.

Louisiana Tech’s baseball team was 11-2 for the month of April, hotter than a fire ant on a fever blister (as our broadcasting friend Lyn Rollins would say) on April 23 after second baseman Hunter Wells hit a walk-off homer to beat Arkansas-Little Rock, 5-4.

Good times.

But also bad times. Didn’t know it then, but that would be the last game in J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park as we know it.

As an old friend once said when asked what his life’s motto was, “Whatever happen, happen.”

Grew on me. Dude was wiser than I gave him credit for at the time.

Whatever happen, happen.

And if you want to get specific, as in baseball, we can turn “Whatever happen, happen” into how former Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington (who we love) put it: “That’s the way baseball go.”

That’s the way baseball go.

Don’t be surprised. Roll with the flow. You never know.

Gots to grind on.

During the past dozen days, Louisiana Tech’s baseball team has learned the “Whatever happen, happen” truism the hard way.

The Bulldogs left Ruston Wednesday in the early afternoon, April 24, for Lake Charles and lost at McNeese State, 5-3, that night. While bussing to Houston for a three-game set with Rice, the Bulldogs lost their stadium to an early morning April 25 tornado. There will be no “home” baseball for Tech again until 2021. Forget next spring. Tech could play baseball at home then, but it would be in a rinky dink facility. Tech has the chance to rebuild and have the best home digs in the league.

Anyway, Tech then got swept at Rice, then lost a 3-1 game at Northwestern State. Tech had at that point lost 5 games and 1 stadium in six days.

Think about that the next time you’re feeling sorry for yourself or for your team..

The Bulldogs hit the ball hard at Old Dominion over the weekend and didn’t have a lot to show for it; lost two of three. Then they hustled home late Sunday night and got on the bus for Baton Rouge Tuesday morning.

And hit the ball hard again. Result was different this time.

Tech 12, LSU 1.

It’s “just” a midweek game, but Tech needed this one, and in this way. The Dogs outhit LSU, 17-4. Starter Logan Robbins, who lost his weekend starting spot last week, gave up one unearned run in 6.2 innings of three-hit ball, struck out two and walked one.

“He could mope and pout and moan but he took the ball and gave it his all,” Tech head coach Lane Burroughs said. “Last week at NSU, he was lights out. And every time we scored tonight, our guys put up a zero. Shutdown innings. Huge.”

Wells and Mason Mallard each had four hits, Tanner Huddleston had three plus four RBIs, Parker Bates had a solo homer (one of his two hits) and, like Mallard, three RBIS.

Both teams have 30-19 overall records. LSU is fourth in the SEC West, three games behind Arkansas; LSU plays at Arkansas this weekend.

Tech is in third place in CUSA, two games behind second-place Western Kentucky, who Tech plays this weekend in a three-game set starting Friday at ULM’s Warhawk Field; it’s a home series for Tech but … well, the tornado and all. Admission is free. Friday’s game’s at 6, Saturday at 4 and Sunday at 1.

“We’ve been in the pit,” Burroughs said after Tuesday night’s win. “We don’t have a locker room or a field we can call our own. But our guys keep practicing; if we play like we did tonight, we’ll be hard to beat.

“Like I told ’em,” he said, “it’s not what’s behind us, it’s what’s in front of us.”

-30-

The first time I remember it happening was in my parents’ maroon Mercedes-Benz sedan. It was at the corner of Grover and Leo in Broadmoor. I can’t give you a precise date, but I’m pretty sure it was in the late 1960s.

I was euphoric. To be able to witness such an epic event is something that stays with you.

It has happened since, but I can’t remember being a witness. Could have been poor planning or just not paying attention to detail.

Until now.

Just east of the Farmerville Exit on I-20, mile marker 87 if you want to be precise, I felt the same joy I felt 50 years ago. And more than a little bit of both pride and anxiety molded into one.

I watched as my vehicle odometer turned to 100,000 miles.

Let’s face it; that’s not a life event you get to witness every day. And I must admit there are vast differences between the two milestones. Such as:

** In the 1960s, the odometer was analog, so the anticipation was palpable as you watch that last “9” start to roll up. Then it would be one more trip around for the white background tenths of a mile before it was game on. These days, it’s digital. One second it’s 99,999 (no tenths) and the next it’s 100,000. Don’t blink!

** And when you are less than 10 years old, you really don’t stop to think about what it all means financially. The concept of what happens after the 100,000 warranty expires doesn’t exactly carry the same weight for the kid who doesn’t have to worry about the car breaking down as opposed to the adult who does.

It seems only fitting that all members of Designated Writers’ upper management team were on hand to witness and record the event. When something truly happens, rest assured that we are there to cover it.