MONROE, La.?ULM broke open a 1-1 game with six runs in
the bottom of the seventh inning and Don Williams tossed his second consecutive
complete game as the Warhawks blew past Mississippi State 7-1 in front of 3,673
fans on “Pack the Park Night” at Warhawk Field Wednesday night.
The crowd was the fifth largest in Warhawk Field history
passing the 3,651 fans that saw ULM and LSU play on March 9, 2004.
Williams threw a complete game, four-hitter last Tuesday
in ULM's 9-2 victory at Southern Miss, which earned him Sun Belt and Louisiana
Pitcher of the Week honors. Tonight, the junior right-hander scattered seven
hits and allowed just a solo home run in the third inning. He struck out a
career-high and ULM (16-11) season-high nine Bulldog batters and walked just one.
The Warhawks have won six of seven games dating
back to Matt Collins' walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th
inning of ULM's 10-8 victory over Arkansas State on March 22.
Nick Wade started the seventh-inning outburst with a
single to left field. Perry Smith and Boomer Blanchard both reached on bunt
singles as they tried to sacrifice the runners into scoring position and Jon
Prevost drew a bases-loaded walk to put the Warhawks up 2-1.
Ben Soignier, who entered the at-bat 0-for-3 for with
three strikeouts, then laced a double down the left field line clearing the
bases pushing the ULM lead out to 5-1.
Matt Laird kept the pressure on crushing a two-run home
run to deep left field for his fifth blast of the season to give the Warhawks a
7-1 lead.
Wade led the Warhawks going 2-for-3 and scored a pair of
runs, while Boomer Blanchard was 2-for-5 from the leadoff spot in the lineup.
Grant Hogue was the lone Bulldog with multiple hits going 2-for-3.
The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third
inning on the solo home run by Ryan Duffy, which was Mississippi State's first
hit of the game.
Wade tied the game in the bottom of the fifth with his
third home run of the season, also to left field and it was ULM's first hit of
the game off Mississippi State starter Forrest Moore.
Moore was brilliant for the Bulldogs striking out a
career-high and Mississippi State season-high 11 batters in six innings. His
lone weakness on the night was the five walks he issued which inflated his
pitch count to 109 and chased him from the game.
Greg Houston (1-1) took the loss allowing four runs on
three hits without recording an out in the seventh inning. Jared Wesson tossed
the final two innings allowing the two-run homer to Laird.
The Warhawk starting pitchers have been outstanding over
the past five games. ULM has only sent eight pitchers to the bump over those
five games with the starters averaging 7.3 innings per start.
The Warhawks return to Sun Belt Conference action this
weekend at UALR (7-18, 3-9). First pitch Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m. and all
three games will be broadcast live on 1680 AM in the Monroe area and worldwide on
the internet at ulmathletics.com.
