BEAUMONT, Texas?Jeremiah Sammy hit a walk-off single in
the bottom of the ninth inning to cap an 11-10 come-from-behind victory by
Lamar over visiting ULM Tuesday night at Vincent-Beck Stadium. The Cardinals scored four
runs in the eighth and ninth innings to complete the comeback.
Trailing 8-3 entering the eighth inning, Lamar (29-17)
pulled within one after the Warhawks loaded the bases by walking the first
three batters of the inning. Steven Tucker made ULM pay for the free passes
with a two-run double to left field. Chris Dunkin and Sammy followed with RBIs
to close the gap to 8-7.
All-American Ben Soignier appeared to give the Warhawks
enough of a cushion with a towering two-out, two-run home run to center field
in the top of the ninth inning pushing the ULM (25-19) lead out to 10-7.
However, two of the first three batters for Lamar reached
in the bottom of the ninth. Following a strikeout for the second out of the
inning, Tucker singled to left to close the gap to 10-8 and put runners at first
and second.
A double steal put runners at second and third for pinch
hitter Cameron Campbell who responded with a double to right-center field on an 0-2 pitch to
tie the game. One pitch later Sammy hit the game-winning single to left.
Boomer Blanchard and Jon Prevost led the Warhawks going
3-for-4 with a pair of walks each. Prevost drove home three runs while
Blanchard scored three times. Nick Wade, Chris Sinclair and Perry Smith all
finished the night 2-for-5 for ULM.
The Warhawks stranded 13 runners on base and committed
three errors in the field, which led to one unearned run.
Sammy finished 3-for-6, while Tucker, Dunkin, Quentin
Luquette and Anthony Moore all had two hits for Lamar.
Kevin Angelle (3-2) took the win for Lamar despite
allowing the home run to Soignier. He tossed 2.2 innings allowing a pair of
hits to go with six strikeouts. Josh Miller (1-2) suffered the loss for ULM allowing
five runs on seven hits in 1.2 innings of work.
Laird gave the Warhawks a 1-0 lead in the top of the
first inning with a two-out single to right field. ULM kept the pressure on in
the second loading the bases with one out. Prevost drew a walk to score the
first run of the frame and Soignier was hit by a pitch to give the Warhawks a
3-0 lead ? Soignier was hit by two pitches and drew a walk to go along with
the home run.
Following a scoreless third, Prevost upped the ULM lead
to 4-0 with an RBI single back up the middle after Blanchard singled and
stole second base.
Lamar pulled within 4-2 in the fifth on an RBI single by Dunkin
after a lead-off single and stolen base by Brian Taylor.
The Warhawks answered with two runs in the top of the
sixth after loading the bases. Blanchard and Prevost reached on back-to-back
one-out singles and Soignier walked to fill the bases. Matt Collins drew a walk
for the first run and Laird hit a deep line drive to right field for a
sacrifice fly to score Blanchard, who moved into 10th place on the
ULM single-season runs scored list with 56.
Lamar kept chipping away scoring again in the sixth to
pull within 6-3, but Corey Brown came out of the ULM bullpen and got the
Cardinals to strand the bases loaded. Lamar left 12 runners on base on the
night.
Blanchard and Prevost struck again in the seventh with a
pair of RBI hits. Sinclair and Smith reach on back-to-back singles setting up an
RBI double by Blanchard and RBI single by Prevost.
The teams wrap up the two-game series tomorrow afternoon
at 3 p.m. The Warhawks will send senior right-hander Danial McHenry (0-0, 8.78
ERA) to the mound for his fourth start of the season.
