KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A stellar relief pitching
outing from Cale Wine and a big two-run home run from Judd Edwards led the ULM
baseball team to a 7-4 win over Tennessee Sunday afternoon at Lindsey Nelson
Stadium.
ULM (11-6) broke the game open in the top of
the seventh inning, as Joey Rapp crushed a double off the wall in center field with
two outs. Brandon Alexander dropped a
Texas Leaguer in center to plate Rapp and give the Warhawks a 5-4 lead, bringing Edwards to the
plate. The junior third baseman turned
on a 1-0 pitch from Hunter Daniel (0-1) and blasted it deep over the fence in left,
jolting ULM to a three-run cushion (7-4).
Wine (3-1) hit Jared Allen to lead off the
bottom of the eighth inning, but responded by forcing Parker Wormsley into the
6-4-3 double play. The right-hander then
blew a fastball by a swinging Ethan Bennett to end the Tennessee half of the
inning.
Wine allowed two earned runs in his 8.2
innings of relief, walking one batter and striking out five to earn the win.
The Warhawks got on the board first after the
game's opening three batters reached base.
Caleb Clowers led off with a five-pitch walk and then moved to second on
a single up the middle by Jeremy Sy.
Corben Green singled through the right side to load the bases with
nobody out. Alexander grounded out
unassisted to the first baseman Davis Morgan to score Clowers and give ULM the
1-0 lead. After Edwards was hit by a
pitch to reload the bases, Abdalla drew a full count walk to up the advantage
to 2-0. Logan Fiasco followed with a big
two-run single right up the middle to push the cushion to 4-0.
Alexander, Edwards and Fiasco all paced the
Warhawks with two RBIs each. Abdalla
added an RBI and walked three times.
Tennessee (10-5) answered in the bottom of
the first inning, as Zach Osborne ripped an RBI double down the left field line
off ULM starter Fraser Adams to score Will Maddox and close the gap to
4-1. An error by Sy on a ground ball
from Drew Steckenrider scored Osborne and made it 4-2. After retiring Allen on a fly ball to right, Wine
hit Morgan to load the bases. The eventful
frame ended when Wine punched out Bennett looking.
The Warhawks went back on the offensive in
the top of the third, as Rapp (hit by pitch), Alexander and Abdalla (walks) all
reached base. A Fiasco pop out and Les
Aulds fly out got Volunteer reliever Conner Stevens out of the inning.
Bennett tacked on the third Tennessee run of
the game by sending a screamer back up the middle, scoring Morgan and closing
the gap to one (4-3) in the bottom of the fourth. Wine buckled down and retired Zach Luther and
Maddox consecutively to keep the Warhawks in front.
Allen tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of
the sixth inning, hammering a pitch from Wine over the left field wall. The Warhawks weathered the charge, as Wine forced
Maddox to pop out to Edwards to halt the threat and keep the game 4-all.
Maddox and Bennett each paced the Volunteers
with two base hits. Daniel allowed three
runs in his 0.2 innings to take the loss.
ULM travels to Tulane Tuesday for a 1 p.m.
first pitch before returning to Warhawk Field to host UL-Lafayette March 16-18.
