MOBILE, Ala. -- South Alabama
scored six unearned runs en route to a 10-5 victory over ULM Saturday evening
at Stanky Field to even the Sun Belt Conference series at a game apiece. The
Warhawks out-hit the Jaguars 12-11, but five errors by ULM proved to be the
difference.
The Warhawks (14-8, 3-2 Sun
Belt) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in their half of the first inning before the
game was dramatically changed on a quick decision by the umpires.
The bottom of the first
started out harmless as Randy Zeigler got leadoff hitter Logan Kirkland to fly
out to right field. A one-out single by Taylor White started the chain of
events that impacted the remainder of the game.
South Alabama head coach Steve
Kittrell came out of the dugout to argue what he thought was a balk call and
then two pitches later Jake Overstreet was awarded first base on a catcher's
interference call. Following an error and an RBI single, Zeigler was ejected from
the game by home plate umpire Greg Oros.
Shelby Aulds was forced into
the game cold as he came straight off the ULM bench and received just eight
warm-up pitches before dealing with a bases loaded situation. He struck out the
first batter he faced, but a two-run single by Brad Hook capped a five-run
frame for the Jaguars.
Joey Rapp led the Warhawks
with three hits, while Les Aulds and Jason Hicks each had two. White, Nolan
Earley and Brent Tanner paced South Alabama with two hits each.
South Alabama (12-10, 2-3) extended
its lead out to 6-1 on an RBI groundout by Earley to score Kirkland in the second.
Rapp hit his Sun Belt leading
fifth home run with one out in the third and Aulds hit his second home run of
the week with one out in the fourth to pull the Warhawks within one, 6-5.
Back-to-back two-out doubles
by Earley and Tanner in the home half of the fourth and a solo homer by White
to leadoff the sixth stretched the Jaguar lead back out to three, 8-5.
An error and the second
catcher's interference of the game against the Warhawks led to another unearned
run in the seventh inning. Jordan Patterson hit a one-out homer in the eighth
to cap the scoring.
Zeigler (2-2) was saddled with
the loss for the Warhawks despite his early exit. He was charged with five
unearned runs and two hits in one-third of an inning worth of work. Aulds
allowed three runs on six hits over 4.2 innings before handing the ball off to
Kendall Thamm.
Dustin Crenshaw (4-0) tossed
six innings to pick up the win for South Alabama. He allowed five runs on 10
hits, while striking out eight and walking none. Kyle Dees tossed the final
three innings to pick up his second save of the year.
The teams will conclude the
three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m.
