MONROE, La.?Matt Laird and Matt Collins each had two hits,
and Jared Jennings was magnificent on the mound as the Maroon Team defeated the
Gold Team 7-1 in the opening game of the annual ULM Blood Series at Warhawk
Field Sunday afternoon.
Laird blasted a solo home run, and Collins doubled and scored
a pair of runs to kickoff the best-of-five series; the losing team donates
blood to Lifeshare
Blood Center.
The senior Jennings
tossed 5 1/3 innings of two-hit ball, striking out seven batters and walking
just two in the win.
Both teams hit home runs in the first inning with the Maroon
Team getting a two-run blast from senior Kyle Suire and the Gold Team getting a
solo homer from senior Dexter Fontenot.
Laird's home run to left field gave the Maroon Team a 3-1
lead in the top of the third.
The Maroon Team extended their lead to 4-1 with junior Ben
Soignier drawing a bases loaded walk in the fourth inning. Collins led off the inning with a double,
sophomore Casey Auttonberry followed up with a single and Laird reached on a
walk to load the bases.
With the Maroon Team threatening again in the top of the
fifth inning with the bases loaded, freshman Jordy Poche moved from second base to the mound for the Gold
Team. He struck out the first batter he faced, Auttonberry, and then
got freshman Kelvin York to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Poche threw 1 1/3 innings allowing a pair of
hits.
The Maroon Team tacked on three insurance runs in the top of
the seventh inning. After the Gold Team
walked three of the Maroon's first four batters to open the inning, pinch
hitter sophomore Evan Saucier came within a few feet of clearing the bases,
blasting one off the top of the wall in center field. The runners were forced to hold on the play
and he was limited to an RBI-single.
Freshman Darren Sutton followed up with a single through the
hole in the left side of the infield scoring both Collins and Auttonberry,
pushing the lead to 7-1.
Junior Derek Ward tossed the final 1 2/3 innings for the
Maroon Team allowing a pair of hits, a strikeout and two walks to earn the
save.
Junior college transfer Scott Stephen took the loss for the
Gold Team allowing four runs on five hits in 3 2/3 innings of work. Stephen struck out two and walked three in
his first appearance for ULM.
The teams resume the best-of-five series Monday night at
6:00 pm at Warhawk Field.
ULM Maroon Team 7, ULM Gold Team 1 (Nov 04, 2007 at Monroe, La.)
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ULM Maroon Team..... 201 100 3 - 7 9 0 (1-0)
ULM Gold Team....... 100 000 0 - 1 4 0 (0-1)
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Pitchers: ULM Maroon Team - Jennings, Jared; Ward, Derek(6).
ULM Gold Team - Stephen, Scott; Poe, Nick(4); Poche, Jordy(5); Graham, Drew(6); Lett, Josh(7).
Win-Jennings, Jared(1-0) Loss-Stephen, Scott(0-1) T- A-0
HR ULMM - Laird, Matt; Suire, Kyle.
HR ULMG - Fontenot, Dexter.
Poe, N. faced 2 batters in the 5th.
