MONROE, La. - A sterling pitching performance
and timely hitting led UL-Lafayette to a 5-0 win over the ULM baseball team Friday
night in the opening Sun Belt Conference game of 2012 at Warhawk Field.
UL-Lafayette's (11-7, 1-0 SBC) Brian Bowman
led off the top of the first inning with a single past ULM shortstop Jeremy
Sy. Bowman moved to second base on a sacrifice
bunt from Ryan Leonards, and a passed ball on catcher Logan Fiasco gave the
Ragin' Cajuns a runner at third base with one out. Starter Randy Zeigler (2-3) struck out Dylan
Butler and forced Chase Compton to ground out to Caleb Clowers at second base
to end the inning.
UL-Lafayette scored the contest's first run
on a base hit to left field off the bat of Chris Sinclair that plated Jace
Conrad and gave the Ragin' Cajuns a 1-0 advantage. The Warhawks escaped the frame on a bang-bang
play at first base to retire a streaking Bowman.
Sy blasted a single up the middle off Ragin'
Cajun starter Jordan Nicholson (3-1) for the first ULM (12-7, 0-1 SBC) hit of
the evening in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Corben Green followed with a sharp single through the gap to move Sy to
second. A fly ball deep to right field
off the bat of Joey Rapp allowed Sy to advance to third. Nicholson sat down Brandon Alexander swinging
for the inning's final out.
Butler blasted a solo home run off Zeigler
over the left field wall to open the top of the sixth inning, giving the Ragin'
Cajuns a 2-0 lead. The Warhawks answered
by retiring consecutive UL-Lafayette hitters on fly ball outs and striking out
Daniel Nichols swinging to limit the damage.
UL-Lafayette threatened in the top of the
seventh inning, as Conrad reached on a fielding error by third baseman Judd
Edwards. Conrad moved to second base on
a sacrifice bunt and to third base on a groundout to Clowers. Bowman flied out to Taylor Abdalla in right
field to hold the runner at third and keep the deficit 2-0.
Zeigler retired the first two batters in the
top of the eighth inning before Compton reached on an error at shortstop by
Sy. Tyler Frederick reached base on a
four-pitch walk to chase Zeigler from the game.
Nichols capitalized off reliever Shelby Aulds, rapping an RBI single to
left to push the lead to 3-0. The Ragin'
Cajuns added an additional pair of runs on an error by Clowers at second base
that opened the gap to 5-0.
Zeigler allowed two earned runs on four hits
in 7.2 innings. The left-hander walked
three and struck out three in defeat.
Fraser Adams entered in the top of the ninth
inning and punched out Sinclair, Bowman and Leonards to sit the Ragin' Cajuns
down in order in the frame.
Sy paced the Warhawk offense with a 2-for-3
effort at the plate, while Green and Edwards each added base knocks for ULM.
Five different UL-Lafayette players
contributed to the hit column, with Butler's solo home run being the only hit that
went for extra bases. Nicholson allowed
four hits and struck out six batters to earn the complete game shutout.
Both teams return to Warhawk Field for the
second game of the three-game series Saturday at 6 p.m.
