ULM Warhawks

Perry Smith and Boomer Blanchard led the Warhawk offensive attack going 2-for-4 on the night. Five Mavericks drove in two runs in the game led by Preseason All-American Michael Choice's 2-for-3 night. UTA only tallied three more hits than the Warhawks, 10-7, but took advantage of six walks and four hit batters by the ULM pitching staff.

UTA (10-11) scored the bulk of its runs in the third and fourth innings plating four in both frames. Jordan Vaughn opened the scoring with a double to left field and Steffan Guest followed two batters later with a two-run double. Preston Beck tacked on the final run of the inning with a single to center.

The Mavericks only had to piece together two hits for their four runs in the fourth, including one that was a weak dribbler back to the pitcher. UTA scored on a bases-loaded walk, a bases-loaded hit batter, a passed ball and the infield single.

ULM (9-11) broke through in the fourth inning when Kelvin York, who led off the inning with an infield single, scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jarrett Hammond. The Warhawks had opportunities to plate more runs early in the game, but stranded seven base runners over the first four innings of the game.

Choice extended the Mavericks lead out to 9-1 with his eighth home run of the season to lead off the seventh inning. Following a hit batter and a walk, Brian Nephew hit a two-run double down the left-field line. Chad Comer added another two-run double for the Mavericks in the eighth to close out the scoring.

Brian Watson (1-0) picked up the win for UTA after throwing three innings of scoreless relief out of the bullpen. Shane Ardoin (0-1) suffered the loss for the Warhawks after allowing seven runs on five hits over 3.1 innings of work. Matt Cawthon threw well out of the ULM bullpen allowing one earned run and a pair of hits over 2.2 innings.

The Warhawks return to Sun Belt Conference play this weekend when they travel to No. 22 Western Kentucky for a three-game set.