MONROE, La.?Matt Collins hit a
two-out, two-run walk-off home run into the teeth of a 13 mile-per-hour wind in
the bottom of the 10th inning to lift ULM to a 10-8 victory over
Arkansas State Sunday afternoon at Warhawk Field.
Facing Nick Lambert, who had six
strikeouts in three innings over the weekend, Collins took a 2-0 fastball over
the wall in right-center field for his third home run of the season. Lambert
walked All-American Ben Soignier with two outs to get to Collins, who had been
0-for-4 on the day before his game-winning at-bat.
Matt Laird finished the day 3-for-4 with three RBIs to lead ULM, while Jon Prevost was
2-for-6 with a pair of runs driven in and Soignier was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
The victory was ULM's first in five extra-inning games this season.
ULM (11-10, 4-5 Sun Belt)
jumped out to a 7-1 lead after three innings only to see the Red Wolves (9-11,
4-5) score seven runs over the final five innings of regulation to send the game into extra
innings for the second straight night.
Blake Jones (1-1) picked up
his first career victory for the Warhawks tossing the ninth and 10th
innings allowing just a pair of walks ? one intentional ? and no hits. Lambert
(3-1) suffered the loss allowing a pair of runs on just the one hit in 1.1
innings.
A lead-off error in the top of
the ninth allowed the Red Wolves to tie the game at 8-8 with an unearned run
off reliever Drew Graham. The Warhawks tried to answer putting a pair of
runners on base in the bottom of the ninth inning against Andy Ferguson, but
Lambert came out the bullpen to strike out back-to-back batters to send the
game to extra innings.
Soignier put the Warhawks up
1-0 in the opening frame with a single back up the middle and Laird extended
the lead out to 2-0 with a double of the wall in center field to score
Soignier.
After the Red Wolves plated a
run in the top of the second, ULM scored five unanswered over the next two
frames to take a 7-1 lead.
Perry Smith led off the second
with a double to left and came home to score on a Prevost single through the
left side of the infield. Following a
Soignier single, Laird struck again with a single to right center scoring both
Prevost and Josh Gill.
Prevost gave the Warhawks a
6-1 lead in the third inning with a single through the left side of the infield to score Gill. He would
later come around to score on a throwing error by the Arkansas State catcher.
The Red Wolves began their
rally with three runs in the fifth inning sparked by a two-run triple by Lawson
Hipps. Arkansas State pulled within two, 7-5, with a run in the seventh and
Josh DeMoney tied the game with his first hit of the weekend, a two-run home
run to left field, in the eighth inning.
Boomer Blanchard led off the
eighth reaching on shortstop Jordan Kimball's third error of the game and moved
to third on a deep fly out by Prevost setting up Soignier for the go-ahead run
in the eighth -- a sacrifice fly to center field.
The Warhawks host Harvard in a
rare Monday afternoon game at Warhawk Field. First pitch is scheduled for 3
p.m. in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
