Louisiana

Ethan Bates, Razorback-turned-Louisiana Tech baseball star, is ‘Country Ohtaini

Published

2 years ago

May 31, 2024

Ethan Bates, Razorback-turned-Louisiana Tech baseball star, is ‘Country Ohtaini

FAYETTEVILLE — The player nicknamed “Country Ohtani” — also known as Ethan Bates — will lead Louisiana Tech’s baseball team against Kansas State on Friday night at the NCAA Fayetteville Regional.

Bates, a senior from Hot Springs Lakeside High School, has developed into a hitting and pitching star after starting his college career at the University of Arkansas.

With a Division I-leading 17 saves to go with 15 home runs, 21 doubles and 74 RBI as a designated hitter, Bates’ nickname is a reference to Shohei Ohtani, a two-way star with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Considering the population for Los Angeles was listed as 3.82 million last year compared to 38,109 for Hot Springs and 22,295 for Ruston, La. — where Louisiana Tech is located — the “Country” part of Bates’ nickname seems appropriate.

“Four-wheelers, that’s his thing,” Louisiana Tech Coach Lane Burroughs said after the Bulldogs’ Thursday practice. “I promise you he would have rather been in Hot Springs working on a four-wheeler right now than in here talking to you guys.

“He’s just a great young man. He loves to hunt and fish. And he’s obviously a really, really good ballplayer.”

Bates, who throws right-handed and bats left-handed, was named Conference USA Player of the Year.

“He’s the top two-way player in the country,” Kansas State Coach Pete Hughes said as he rattled off Bates’ stats. “They’ve gotten their money’s worth out of that guy, right?”

Bates said he enjoyed being at Baum-Walker Stadium on Thursday for regional practices and is looking forward to playing on Arkansas’ home field Friday night.

“Just kind of taking it all in,” Bates said. “Just really excited to be back up here and see a bunch of friends and family that I haven’t gotten to see in a while.

“I’ve loved being at Tech. It’s been the best fit for me.”

Bates played in 17 games as a freshman for the Razorbacks in 2021 as an outfielder and third baseman, including eight starts. He batted .250 (9 of 36) with 6 RBI.

“Ethan, what a great kid,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said this week. “I mean, he’s not a kid anymore. He’s a full-grown man.

“He came in here and struggled a little bit, but we could see [the talent] in him. He really wanted to play.”

To get more playing time, Bates transferred to Navarro (Texas) Junior College for his sophomore season. He said that before going to Navarro, he already was hoping to land at Louisiana Tech.

“We played down at Tech my freshman year and I really liked it,” Bates said of Arkansas’ three-game series in Ruston. “Loved the field, loved the atmosphere.

“Whenever I did decide to leave [Arkansas] and go to Navarro, that’s kind of where I set my sights on.”

Burroughs was glad to add Bates, who batted .324 (56 for 173) with 3 home runs, 4 triples and 15 doubles with 34 RBI in 52 games. Bates also pitched in 5 games at Navarro and had a 3.24 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings.

“We were not aware of the pitching,” Burroughs said. “We knew he could hit.

“A coach at Navarro called and told us, ‘Hey, you might want to look at him on the mound. I think the dude can pitch a little bit.’

“We did put him out there in the fall [of 2022], and he just started carving us up. We thought, ‘Hey, we might be onto something.’ It was kind of by accident.

“It was good stuff. It’s velocity and plus-plus command. Plus slider, plus changeup.”

Bates batted .281 with 15 home runs and 35 RBI and 6 saves with a 3.16 ERA as a junior, then took his hitting to another level this season.

“When he’s in the [batter’s] box, we always expect something really good to happen,” Louisiana Tech right fielder Dalton Davis said. “He’s come through in the clutch a bunch of times. He always finds a way.”

Bates has pitched 43 2/3 innings in 35 games this season.

“I’ve been doing this for 28 years at this level and I don’t think I’ve ever coached a kid that wants the baseball [more] in the most stressful situations,” Burroughs said. “High leverage, he wants it. He wants to be the man at the plate when the game’s on the line.

“We’ve rode him extremely hard this year. I mean 17 saves, that’s kind of unheard of in college baseball. But he takes the baseball, man. He’s never turned us down. He’s a team-first guy.”

Louisiana Tech (45-17) won its last six Conference USA games with sweeps of Western Kentucky and Liberty to win the regular-season title with an 18-6 record — one game ahead of Dallas Baptist (17-7).

The Bulldogs started their closing run when Bates hit a 3-2 pitch for a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning against Western Kentucky senior Mason Burns — second nationally with 15 saves — to lift Louisiana Tech to a 9-7 victory.

Burroughs smiled Thursday as he recalled Bates’ heroics.

“I don’t think you could have drawn it up any better,” Burroughs said. “He’s facing the guy that he’s tied in the country with in saves. They’ve kind of been in a race the entire year on who’s going to be the national leader in saves. Ethan hits a three-run homer off him, walks it off.

“He’s just that guy. He has that ‘it’ factor. I know that’s coach speak and cliche, but he does.

“The thing about Ethan is he’s ultra, ultra competitive.”

Van Horn said Arkansas’ coaches spoke to Bates about the possibility of pitching.

“That wasn’t his first love, honestly,” Van Horn said. “That’s the way it is with a lot of kids.

“It’s just that we knew Ethan had a great arm and power from the left side as a hitter. But when he got to Tech, it’s all come out.

“As an older player and confident, he’s been lights out.”

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Louisiana

Federal appeals court upholds Texas’ Ten Commandments law. What does it mean for Louisiana?

Published

2 hours ago

April 22, 2026

Press Room

Federal appeals court upholds Texas’ Ten Commandments law. What does it mean for Louisiana?

A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a Texas law requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments, just weeks after the same court allowed a similar Louisiana law to take effect.

A majority of judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas’ law, which is nearly identical to Louisiana’s, is constitutional and does not violate students’ religious freedom. In February, the court lifted an injunction on Louisiana’s law, which cleared schools to put up the posters, but the judges said it was too early to rule on that law’s constitutionality.

Tuesday’s ruling could bode well for Louisiana’s law if it eventually returns to the 5th Circuit, considered the country’s most conservative federal court of appeals.

In their majority opinion, the judges rejected the argument that posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms would pressure students to honor the biblical mandates or adopt particular beliefs.

“To plaintiffs, merely exposing children to religious language is enough to make the displays engines of coercive indoctrination. We disagree,” the majority wrote about the Texas law, known as S.B. 10. A minority of the court’s active judges dissented.

Even though Tuesday’s ruling only addressed the Texas case, defenders of Louisiana’s legislation celebrated it as a victory. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the 5th Circuit’s argument in upholding Texas’ law was identical to the one Louisiana made in defense of its law.

“Our law clearly was always constitutional,” she posted on X, “and I am grateful that the Fifth Circuit has now definitively agreed with us.”

Louisiana’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed the law in 2024, which requires all public K-12 schools and colleges to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. A group of parents quickly challenged the law in court, and a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that stopped the state from enforcing the law.

In February, the 5th Circuit reversed the lower court’s decision, saying it had been premature to block the law before it took effect. The judges said they could not rule on the law’s constitutionality before seeing how it played out in schools.

But in the case of Texas’ law, which that state’s Republican-led Legislature passed in 2025, the court did rule on the merits.

Rejecting arguments made by attorneys for the Texas families who challenged the law, the 5th Circuit majority said that requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments does not amount to the government endorsing a particular religion, which the U.S. Constitution forbids. The law also does not impose religious beliefs on students, the judges wrote.

“As noted, S.B. 10 authorizes no religious instruction and gives teachers no license to contradict children’s religious beliefs (or their parents’),” the majority opinion says. “No child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin.”

The Texas families were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, with the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as pro bono counsel. The same groups, including Louisiana’s ACLU chapter, represented the Louisiana families.

In a statement Tuesday, the organizations said they are “extremely disappointed” by the 5th Circuit’s ruling, adding that they expect to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction,” the groups said. “This decision tramples those rights.”

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Louisiana

Gaining momentum: Louisiana climbs to No. 3 in the South for job growth

Published

14 hours ago

April 21, 2026

Press Room

Gaining momentum: Louisiana climbs to No. 3 in the South for job growth

(iStock.com/Credit:typhoonski)

Nearly all major industries in Louisiana added jobs over the past year, signaling momentum for a stronger future, according to a recent report from Leaders for a Better Louisiana.

The organizat…

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Louisiana

8 children killed after domestic dispute in Shreveport

Published

1 day ago

April 21, 2026

Press Room

8 children killed after domestic dispute in Shreveport

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — Police say a man shot and killed eight children, including seven of his own, following a domestic dispute in Shreveport.

The incident took place early Sunday morning, April 19, on West 79th Street in the Cedar Grove neighborhood. According to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, the victims included three boys and five girls, aged between three and 11-years-old. Seven of the children were siblings, while one was a cousin. Two adult females were also injured, including one who was shot at a home located in the 500 block of Harrison Street.

One of the adults was inside the home on West 79th Street when the children were killed. She managed to escape through a window with two of the children and reached the roof. The woman jumped down with one of the children. Unfortunately, the other child did not manage to escape. Police later found his body on the roof with a gunshot wound. The surviving child was taken to the hospital with a broken leg.

Shamar Elkins (Courtesy of Shreveport Police Department) (KTAL/KMSS) West 79th Street tragedy, 8 children killed

The children were identified by their mothers as Jayla (age 3), Shayla (age 5), Kayla (age 6), Layla (age 7), Markaydon (age 10), Sariahh (age 11), Khedarrion (age 6), and Braylon (age 5).

Authorities say the suspect and father of the victims, Shamar Elkins, was the only person who fired shots that led to the juveniles’ deaths.

Authorities noted that Elkins stole a vehicle near West 79th Street after he shot the victims. He was pursued by patrol officers into Bossier Parish, where they discharged their weapons and fatally shot him on Brompton Lane. Louisiana State Police will take over the investigation involving the officers.

Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux expressed his thoughts on the matter, saying, “We have a hurting community. We have hurting families. We have hurting police officers, coroner’s personnel, fire department, sheriff people, and this affects the entire community. We all mourn with these families. I ask, it’s a Sunday morning. I ask all of you who are, who are listening, who might be able to. Pray at your services this morning for not just this family, for all the victims, for the victims who are at the hospital, and for the Cedar Grove community and for the community at large.”

Attorney General Liz Murrill also commented on the tragic shooting, stating, “Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating this tragic situation. We do not yet know all the details, but I am deeply saddened by the senseless loss of life. I’m praying for the victims and their family members in the wake of this devastating violence.”

According to the Director of Strategy and Communications, Mary Nash-Wood, two of the children attended Summer Grove, and at least four attended Linwood Charter School.

The police have not determined a motive. More updates will be provided as the information becomes available.

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