KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A solid outing from
starter Randy Zeigler could not spark the offense, as Tennessee struck for four
runs in the final three innings to defeat the ULM baseball team 4-0 Friday
night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
The Volunteers (10-3) broke a scoreless tie
on a solo home run from Ethan Bennett that rocketed over the left field wall in
the bottom half of the seventh inning.
Will Maddox grounded out to shortstop in the very next at-bat to get Zeigler
(2-2) out of the frame trailing 1-0.
Tennessee added three runs in the bottom of
the eighth inning, none of which were earned.
Shelby Aulds replaced Zeigler, and after allowing men to score on a
sacrifice fly and bunt, consecutively, struck out Jared Allen swinging to keep
the host's lead at 4-0.
Jeremy Sy ripped his first double of the
season to left field off Tennessee starter Zack Godley (3-0) with two outs in
the top of the third to give the Warhawks (9-6) their first hit of the
ballgame. Caleb Clowers bounced out to
shortstop with the man on second base to halt the ULM momentum.
Zeigler began to roll in the bottom half of
the third inning, sitting down two of the final three batters he faced to end
the bottom of the frame before striking out three Volunteer hitters in the
bottom of the fourth inning to strand Chris Fritts at second base.
The reigning Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of
the Week stuck out a career-high 11 batters in his seven full innings, walking
an additional two Volunteer hitters.
Godley countered by striking out Taylor
Abdalla, Logan Fiasco and Brandon Alexander in order to send the Warhawks down
in the top of the fifth inning. Zeigler
ran into trouble in the bottom half of the frame, walking his first two hitters
of the game after recording two quick outs.
A Zach Osborne groundout to Sy at shortstop kept Tennessee off the
scoreboard.
The Warhawks finally got to Godley in the top
of the seventh inning. Corben Green was
hit by a pitch to lead off the frame, and advanced to second on a sacrifice
bunt by Judd Edwards. A wild pitch from
Godley moved Green further into scoring position. A lineout by Alexander to Osborne at
shortstop kept ULM out of the runs column.
Bennett, Fritts and Davis Morgan all recorded
RBIs for Tennessee. Godley allowed three
hits and struck out a career-high 10 batters to earn the win.
Both teams return to Nelson Stadium for game
two of the weekend series Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.
