MONROE, La.?After being held
scoreless over the first four innings of the game, Arkansas State scored eight
runs in the fifth and sixth innings to rally past ULM 14-4 Friday night in the Sun
Belt Conference series opener at Warhawk Field.
The Warhawks carried a 2-0
lead into the fifth inning, but the Red Wolves tied the game with four
consecutive singles in the bottom of the inning. Arkansas State (8-10, 3-4 Sun
Belt) took a 4-2 lead in the sixth when Guy Brown was hit by a pitch with the bases
loaded and Todd Baumgartner followed with a single to center field. Brandon
Eller delivered the big blow of the inning slipping a home run just over the
right field wall for a grand slam.
Baumgartner finished the game 5-for-6,
while Brown, Eller and Murray Watts had three hits.
Nick Wade opened the scoring for
the Warhawks (10-9, 3-4) with his second home run of the season in the third
inning. He picked up his second RBI of the night drawing a bases loaded walk in
the fifth. Jon Prevost hit his fourth home run of the week (three games) in the
seventh inning closing the gap to 8-4.
Preseason All-Sun Belt
selection Chase Ware (3-0) worked through scattered trouble to pick up the win
for Arkansas State. He struck out seven ULM batters and allowed seven hits in six
innings of work. The Warhawks stranded a pair of runners in the opening frame
and left the bases loaded in the fourth.
The Red Wolves added three
more runs in the top of the eighth inning ? two of the three were unearned ?
and three in the ninth, two coming on a Watts home run.
ULM starter Keith Christensen
(1-1) suffered the loss allowing four runs on eight hits over 5.1 innings.
The teams continue the
three-game series Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. from Warhawk Field. The game
will be broadcast live on 1680 AM in the Monroe area and worldwide on the
internet at ULMAthletics.com.
