LAFAYETTE, La. - The ULM baseball team scored
a season-high 17 runs on 15 hits, downing UL-Lafayette 17-0 in seven innings Saturday
night at "Tigue" Moore Field.
With the win, the Warhawks swept the
three-game series against the Ragin' Cajuns and clinched the 5th seed in next
week's Sun Belt Conference Championship.
Brandon Alexander singled to center field to
open the top of the second inning, and reached second base safely after a
throwing error by UL-Lafayette pitcher Joe Zimmerman (0-4) on a ground ball off
the bat of Judd Edwards. Alexander and
Edwards both moved up on the base paths with dual stolen bases with two
outs. Catcher Chris Sinclair lost a 2-2
Zimmerman offering to the backstop, and the passed ball scored Alexander to
give ULM (28-27, 15-15 SBC) a 1-0 lead.
Jeremy Sy worked a full-count walk against
Zimmerman to lead off the top of the third inning. Caleb Clowers roped a single down the left
field line to move Sy to third base. A
Joey Rapp single plated Sy and extended the Warhawk advantage to 2-0. A sacrifice fly off the bat of Alexander
pushed the lead to 3-0. Edwards kept the
momentum rolling by singling to right field and advancing Rapp to third
base. Corben Green made the Ragin'
Cajuns pay by drilling a double to the gap in right center field to score Rapp
and Edwards (5-0).
Kendall Thamm (5-3) retired UL-Lafayette
(23-30, 11-19 SBC) in order in the bottom of the third, striking out Sinclair,
forcing Logan Preston to ground out to shortstop and inducing a Brian Bowman fly
out to center field.
Rapp hit a deep blast over the left field
fence in the top of the fifth inning off reliever Derek Howell to move the
Warhawks further in front, 6-0. After
Alexander crushed a double to the right field corner and Green reached on an
infield single, Chris Dudley grooved a 1-0 Howell pitch into left field,
scoring Alexander to extend the lead to 7-0.
Green then came around to score on an error by the third baseman Preston
(8-0) before Aulds worked a 3-1 walk against Ethan Hebert to load the bases. An RBI single up the middle by Sy scored
Dudley and pushed the ULM cushion to 9-0.
A sacrifice fly from Clowers scored Fiasco (10-0).
Alexander led ULM with a 3-for-4 outing at
the plate, scoring a career-high four runs.
The junior center fielder batted .778 (7-for-9) with four RBIs during
the weekend series. Green chipped in
three hits, three RBIs and three runs scored, while Rapp and Clowers each
finished with two hits apiece.
Aulds ripped a two-out triple into the right
field corner off Kendall Mayer in the top of the sixth inning, scoring Green
and Justin Stawychny to extend the ULM lead to 13-0.
Alexander sliced a single up the middle in
the top of the seventh, loading the bases with nobody out. Green laced a one-out single up the middle
off Ben Frith, scoring Clowers and Rapp (15-0).
A sacrifice fly by Dudley and an RBI double down the left field line by Stawychny
made the score 17-0.
Thamm allowed one hit in his four full
innings, walking none and striking out three batters to earn the win.
ULM is scheduled to face No. 4 seed South
Alabama Wednesday at 11 a.m. in its opening game of the Sun Belt Conference Championship.
