LOUISIANA, Mo. – This week is filled with EMO conference games with teams from all over the area for Louisiana. They will be going up against North Callaway, Montgomery County, and Van-Far. 

The Bulldogs have been improving this season but there is still some much-needed work as they face these teams this week. The match up for some of these games may work in the ‘Dawgs favor. The North Callaway Thunderbirds are currently (9-5) in the season. The Bulldogs are hoping to use the advantage of playing at home when playing against the ‘T-Birds. Coach Ryan Griffin believes that North Callaway is a tough opponent and are playing really well right now. 

The Montgomery County Wildcats are currently (7-2) on the season. The Bulldogs are hoping to come up from behind and defeat the Wildcats when they least expect it. Montgomery has a busy week with a lot of makeup games this week, so maybe by Thursday they will be tired and exhausted. Lastly, the Van-Far Indians are currently (0-11). 

Griffin said, “Van-Far is going to come out ready to play hoping to get their first win of the season and we cannot take them lightly.” 

The Bulldogs are hoping to play their best this week and get their third win of the season.

Some players from the Bulldogs that are currently playing extremely well right now are Jack Logan and Brady Sheppard. Senior Logan has done well pitching for the ‘Dawgs all season long. He is consistently throwing strikes and also throwing many strikeouts. Logan pitched well against Community R-6 which helped Louisiana get their first win of the season. Sophomore Brady Sheppard has done a great job playing offensively these past couple of weeks. He leads the Bulldogs with a .351 average and a .467 on base percentage. Griffin believes that he does a great job at the top of the lineup for the Bulldogs. Louisiana is hoping these two boys continue and help contribute to possibly some future wins this week.

In order for Louisiana to achieve a win this week, or possibly all three wins they need to play a game well from top to bottom. They have been known a few times this season to make a few errors per game which ends up killing them in the long run. Their defense has improved these last couple of games but it could still use some more work. 

Coach Griffin said, “We are struggling defensively here lately and we are trying out some different lineups to right the ship.” 

The Bulldogs changing around their lineup has improved immensely and they are hoping to place the boys in the right spot to get that perfect match. The Bulldogs also have been doing well offensively when it comes to hitting. 

“Our bats were starting to heat up a little bit which hopefully we can build some momentum offensively for districts,” Griffin said. 

Overall, the Bulldogs have what it takes to win and it can be seen with their improvement. 

If you are wanting to come out and support the Bulldogs this week, there are three different times you will get the chance. Tuesday against North Callaway, Thursday against Montgomery Country, and Friday against Van-Far. All of these games will be played at Wallace Memorial Park in Louisiana and game time for all of them is 5pm.