MONROE, La.?ULM hit a
season-high six home runs, including two by Matt Laird, in a 15-9 victory over
Florida International in the Sun Belt Conference series opener Friday night at
Warhawk Field. ULM moves past FIU into fourth place in the league standings
with the victory.
Nick Wade, Boomer Blanchard,
Perry Smith and Jon Prevost joined Laird with home runs on the night for the
Warhawks (27-14, 12-10 Sun Belt) ? Prevost's was an inside-the-park homer to
left-center field.
The Warhawks improve to 17-4
at home on the season extending the nation's eighth longest home win streak out
to nine games.
Laird added a triple to finish
the game 3-for-5 with 11 total bases, four runs scored and four RBIs. Ben Soignier,
who moved into second place on the career total bases list and third place on
the career doubles list, was 3-for-5 with two doubles.
Wade finished the night
4-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs, Blanchard was 2-for-4 with four
RBIs and Jordy Poche was 2-for-5 with an RBI. The Warhawks finished the game
with 17 hits on the night marking the sixth straight Sun Belt game that they
have recorded 10 or more hits.
Justin Anderson improved to
6-1 on the season for the Warhawks allowing four runs on nine hits over 5.2
innings of work.
Wade gave the Warhawks an
early 2-0 lead with his fifth home run of the season in the second inning. The
inning was prolonged by a fielding error by the FIU third baseman on a high
throw trying to get Laird at first base.
Smith continued his relentless
offensive attack blasting his fourth home run of the season off the scoreboard
in left-center field to jumpstart a four-run third inning. Smith battled back
from down 0-2 in the count to run it full before giving the Warhawks a 3-0 lead
with his third home run in eight games.
Soignier moved into a tie for
second on the total bases list and a tie for third on the doubles list with one
swing in the third inning ? he moved into sole possession on both lists later
in the game. Matt Collins followed drawing a walk and then Laird crushed a home
run to right field to give the Warhawks a 6-0 advantage.
Blanchard continued the
barrage of home runs with his ninth of the season, a two-out blast to left
field, in the fourth inning pushing the ULM lead out to 8-0.
Poche became the first Warhawk
to drive in a run not on a home run with a single to right field in the fifth
after Laird led off the frame with a triple off the wall in right.
The Golden Panthers (25-15, 10-9) finally
broke through against Anderson plating four runs in the top of the sixth
inning. Mike Martinez, Steven Stropp and Lammar Guy all had RBIs in the inning.
Blanchard gave the Warhawks a
10-4 lead with a single to left field against a drawn in infield in the sixth
inning. Smith was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and moved to third base
as Andre Vasquez sailed a pickoff attempt into right field for a two-base
error.
FIU bounced right back with two
runs in the seventh on an RBI triple by Pablo Bermudez and an RBI single by
Tyler Townsend.
However, the Warhawks quickly
erased any hope of a FIU comeback with five runs in the bottom of the inning.
Laird led off with his second homer of the night and then Poche, Wade and Ryan
McMillan followed with back-to-back-to-back singles to load the bases. Smith
and Blanchard followed with consecutive sacrifice flies. Prevost then crushed a
3-1 offering from Jorge Marban into deep left-center and he motored all the way
around for the inside-the-park home run.
The Golden Panthers put three
runs on the board in the ninth inning on a home run by Junior Arrojo and a
two-run triple
Scott Rembisz (5-2), who
entered the game with a 3.52 ERA, was tagged for eight runs ? six earned ? on
six hits through 3.2 innings.
The Warhawks and Golden Panthers
continue the three-game series tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. ULM will send
sophomore right-hander Jordy Poche (2-3, 5.33 ERA) to the mound, while FIU
counters with junior right-hander Tom Ebert (4-2, 2.83).
