MONROE, La.?Hours after
finding out it qualified for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament next week, the
ULM baseball team took care of business on the field defeating Houston Baptist
6-2 Saturday night in a game that was called after a 38 minute rain delay in the
bottom of the sixth inning on Senior Day at Warhawk Field.
The Warhawks will be the
number seven seed in the Sun Belt Tournament in Troy, Ala., and will play
second seeded Western Kentucky at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Western Kentucky tied with
Middle Tennessee for the regular season championship, but is the two seed due
to losing both games to the Blue Raiders this past weekend.
After begin held in check the
first time through the lineup, the Warhawks (28-25) sent nine batters to the
plate in the fourth inning. Following a lead-off walk and stolen base by Boomer
Blanchard, Ben Soignier took over sole possession of first place on the ULM
career doubles list with a gapper to left-center field to plate Blanchard.
Matt Collins followed with an
RBI single to left. Matt Laird then drew a walk and Jordy Poche singled to
center to load the bases for Ryan McMillan. The senior responded with a two-run
single to center field to give the Warhawks a 4-1 lead. Nick Wade plated the
fifth run of the frame with his team-leading fifth sacrifice fly.
McMillan finished the day
3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and Soignier was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. The first
six batters in the ULM lineup all scored a run in the game.
Keith Christensen (5-3) picked
up his 10th career victory tossing five innings in his final start
at Warhawk Field. He allowed two runs on four hits to go with three strike
outs. Drew Graham made his 20th appearance out of the bullpen and
struck out two batters in one inning of work.
Soignier pulled with two of
the single-season RBI record and six of the career hits record with an RBI
single through the left side of the infield in the fifth inning to increase the
ULM lead out to 6-1.
Andrew Beasley (1-7) took the
loss for the Huskies allowing six runs on seven hits over five innings of work.
He struck out four batters, walked four and threw three wild pitches.
Houston Baptist (10-37) got on
the board first as Robbie Buller scored on a wild pitch in the second inning. After
being hit by a pitch, he moved to third on a double by Jonathon Moore. Buller
drove home Leo Delgado, who led off the inning with a double, with a sacrifice
fly in the sixth.
The teams wrap up the
three-game series tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. on Fan Appreciation Day at
Warhawk Field. All fans will receive free admission to the game and children 12
and under will have the opportunity to run on the field with their favorite
Warhawk starter for the National Anthem.
The game will be broadcast live on 1680 AM in
the Monroe area and worldwide on the internet at ulmathletics.com. Fans can
also watch the game on Warhawks All*Access by logging onto ulmathletics.com.
