TROY, Ala.?Five ULM players
drove in multiple runs as the seventh-seeded Warhawks erased an early 6-0
deficit to rally past No. 6 South Alabama 13-8 in an elimination game in the
Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament at Riddle-Pace Field.
The loss eliminates South
Alabama from the Sun Belt Tournament after two games first the first time in the
32-year history of the tournament.
“For the last month things
have not been going our way and we been giving up the big inning,” ULM head
coach Jeff Schexnaider said. “It is a tribute to our players for not giving up.
Even when things got bad early they kept playing the game hard and were able to
scratch some runs to give us a chance to get back in the game.”
Matt Collins led the Warhawks
(29-26) at the plate going 3-for-4 on the day including a game-tying two-run
home run in the fifth inning. Nick Wade finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs, Perry
Smith was 3-for-5 with two RBIs, Jordy Poche was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Jon
Prevost added a two-run homer.
Drew Graham (3-2) had a gutsy
performance out of the ULM bullpen tossing 4.2 innings in relief of starter
Justin Anderson. Graham struck out five batters and allowed just two unearned
runs (three total) throwing 106 pitches in the winning effort.
“We haven't had a lot of
breaks go our way towards the end of the season and we have just tried to stay
tough and not get down,” Graham said. “We got a few hits after we got down early
and that sparked us. We knew that we could come back and win the game.”
Ben Soignier moved from
shortstop to the mound to close out South Alabama (25-30) over the final two
innings of the game striking out three batters and allowing just one hit. At
the plate, the senior All-American scored three times, had a double and reached
base four times in the game.
Jake Overstreet hit a pair of
two-run home runs in the opening three innings of the game to help the Jaguars
stake their early advantage. He finished the game 3-for-4, while Ryan Bohanan
was 3-for-5, Zach Grichor was 2-for-4 and Derek O'Reilly was 2-for-5.
Matt Jackson (5-4) cruised
through the first three innings for the Jaguars facing just nine batters,
however, the Warhawks changed his fortune the second time through the lineup beginning
in the fourth inning.
Jackson hit Ryan McMillan with the bases loaded, which later forced him to leave the game, for ULM's
first run and Wade followed a with a two-run single through the
left-side of the infield closing the gap to 6-3. Jackson then hit Poche with a
3-2 fastball to load the bases for Smith, who responded with a two-run double
to left field to pull the Warhawks within one, 6-5.
The Jaguars caught a break in
the bottom of the fourth as David Doss appeared to fly out to right field to
end the inning, but Smith couldn't handle the ball and Grichor scored on the error
after he reached on a single earlier in the inning.
Collins quickly erased the
lead with a towering two-run home run to right field to score Soignier.
Soignier reached on his 21st double of the season, which ties him
with his total from last season for sixth on the ULM single-season list.
Prevost extended the ULM lead
out to 10-7 with an opposite-field home run to right. His team-leading 15th
homer moves him into a tie for fourth place on the ULM single-season list. With
runners on first and third, Laird struck out and the ball got just a few feet
away from Doss behind the plate, but Soignier came in head first for ULM's 11th
run of the game.
A lead-off walk to Chris Davis
in the bottom of the sixth came back to hurt the Warhawks as Adam Heisler was
able to plate the run on a groundout to second base pulling the Jaguars within
three, 11-8.
Casey Auttonberry, who entered
the game in the bottom of the fourth for McMillan, led off the seventh with a
double to right and on a heads up base running play moved to third on a fly out
by Wade. Against a drawn in infield, Poche singled to left field to plate
Auttonberry for a 12-8 ULM lead.
Poche gave ULM its final 13-8
margin with an RBI double to straight away center field to plate Wade, who led
off the inning with a single.
Jackson took the loss for
South Alabama allowing eight runs on six hits over 4.2 innings of work. D.D. Hanks
didn't fare much better allowing four runs on five hits in 1.2 innings of
relief.
The Warhawks await the loser
of tonight's game between No. 2 Western Kentucky and No. 3 Troy in another elimination
game at 12:30 p.m. Thursday. 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 all of the action on Sun Belt Extra by logging on to
sunbeltsports.org.
