BOWLING GREEN, Ky.?Western Kentucky completed a
three-game Sun Belt Conference sweep of ULM with a 12-2 victory Sunday
afternoon at Nick Denes Field in eight innings.
Shane Cameron (2-0) led an outstanding pitching effort by
the Hilltoppers (9-2, 3-0 Sun Belt) striking out six ULM batters and scattering
just two hits over six innings of work to earn the victory.
Western Kentucky, who was the preseason favorite to win
the Sun Belt, got on the board early on an RBI groundout by Chad Cregar in the
first inning and then extended its lead to 3-0 in the third on back-to-back RBI
singles by Cregar and Matt Rice.
Justin Anderson (2-1) took the loss for the Warhawks
(6-5, 0-3) allowing four runs on seven hits over 4.2 innings of work.
The Hilltoppers added a run in the fifth on a groundout
following a Jeremy Coleman triple and a run in the sixth on a Warhawk
throwing error.
Ryan McMillan put the Warhawks on the board with a sacrifice
fly in the top of the seventh inning scoring Ben Soignier, who led off the
inning drawing a walk off WKU reliever Bart Carter. McMillan finished the
weekend 3-for-4 at the plate and drew a pair of walks.
WKU answered with five runs in its half of the seventh
inning including a three-run home run off the bat of J.B. Paxson.
Matt Collins pushed ULM's second run across the plate in
the eighth with a single to right field to score Jon Prevost, who reached on
his fourth hit of the weekend. The Hilltoppers added their final two runs of
the game in the bottom of the eighth, which ended the game due to the Sun Belt's
Sunday 10-run rule.
This is the first weekend sweep the Warhawks have
suffered since Louisiana-Lafayette took three from ULM on the opening weekend
of May in 2007.
The Warhawks return home on Tuesday night to host
Texas-Arlington at Warhawk Field with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ULM
then travels to McNeese State on Wednesday night before hosting New Orleans in
a Sun Belt series over the weekend.
