MONROE, La. - An RBI single from Mark Nelson
in the top of the sixth inning broke a 5-5 tie and was ultimately the
difference maker, leading No. 28 Florida Atlantic to a 6-5 Sunday win over the
ULM baseball team at Warhawk Field.
Florida Atlantic (24-13, 12-3 SBC) opened the
top of the sixth inning with a Nathan Pittman single to center field that
scored Mitch Morales, tying the game at 5-5 and chasing Kendall Thamm (2-2)
from the contest. Wil Browning ran the
count full to Corey Keller with two on and one out, but struck the Owl right
fielder out swinging. Nelson bounced an
RBI single down the left field line to bring in Mike Albaladejo from second
base and give Florida Atlantic the 6-5 edge.
The Warhawks (17-19, 5-10 SBC) had taken their
first lead of the afternoon in the top of the fifth inning. Taylor Abdalla led off with a full-count walk
and then moved over to second base on a passed ball charged to the catcher Albaladejo. A perfectly executed sacrifice bunt from
Caleb Clowers moved Abdalla to third base.
Following a walk to Judd Edwards, Austin Gomber threw a wild pitch with Justin
Stawychny at the plate, enabling Abdalla to score to tie the game at
4-all. A Stawychny RBI single to left
field plated Edwards and gave ULM a 5-4 advantage.
Edwards paced the Warhawk offense for the
second consecutive game, finishing 3-for-3 with a run scored. He was also hit by a pitch for the 16th time
this season, a Sun Belt Conference-high.
Florida Atlantic loaded the bases against
starter Fraser Adams in the top of the first inning, with Kyle Newton reaching
on a 3-2 walk with two outs. Alex Hudak
capitalized on the opportunity by lacing a double to the gap in right center
field to score all three runners and give the Owls a 3-0 lead. An RBI single through the right side by Geoff
Jimenez scored Hudak from second base to push the advantage to 4-0.
Edwards ripped a two-out single through the
right side in the bottom of the second inning to give ULM their first hit of the
game. After walking Stawychny and Chris
Dudley to load the bases, Gomber forced Logan Fiasco to fly out to right field
for the inning's third out.
Abdalla dropped a well-placed base hit into
center field in the bottom of the third, scoring Les Aulds to bring ULM within
three runs at 4-1. A throwing error by
the center fielder Jimenez moved Abdalla to second and Joey Rapp to third. A Clowers chop single up the middle of the
diamond plated Rapp to close the gap to 4-2.
A wild pitch from Gomber scored Abdalla for the third Warhawk run of the
frame (4-3).
Thamm walked Pittman on four straight pitches
after entering for Adams in the top of the fourth inning to load the bases, but
the left-hander induced a Keller fielder's choice groundout to Jeremy Sy at
shortstop to escape the jam.
Albaladejo led Florida Atlantic with a
3-for-5 outing at the plate and scored two runs. Hudak added a pair of base hits and three
RBIs. Bo Logan (3-3) worked 2.2
scoreless innings to earn the victory.
ULM travels to TCU for a midweek
non-conference match-up Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
