BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The ULM baseball team
scored five unanswered runs in the final four innings to claim a 7-4 come from
behind win in 10 innings over South Alabama Wednesday in the opening game of
the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at Bowling Green Ballpark.
Pinch hitter Jeff Fuller grooved a one-out
single in the top of the eighth inning to start the ULM (29-27) rally. A Les Aulds single gave the Warhawks two men
on with one man away for Jeremy Sy. Sy
drew a full-count walk against Kyle Bartsch (1-4) to load the bases. Bartsch hit Caleb Clowers with his first
pitch of the at-bat to score Fuller and tie the game at 4-4.
Wil Browning (7-3) retired the Jaguar side in
the bottom of the eighth inning, striking out Dustin Dalken to end the frame.
Browning finished off his second 1-2-3 frame
in the bottom of the ninth inning, striking out Brad Hook and Graham Odom, and
forcing Robby Campbell to ground out back to the mound to send the game to
extra innings.
Fuller started the 10th inning with a single
up the middle, and then advanced to second on a Chris Dudley sacrifice
bunt. Aulds worked Bartsch to a 3-2
count before sending a single screaming into center field, scoring Fuller to
give ULM its first lead of the game (5-4).
A Sy double and a two-run single through the left side off the bat of Joey
Rapp pushed the Warhawk lead to 7-4.
Nolan Earley singled for South Alabama
(21-34) to open the 10th inning off Browning, but the ULM right-hander retired
the next batter Whitt Dorsey on a fly out to right field. Jordan Patterson grounded into the 4-6-3
double play to end the game.
Clowers extended his current hit streak to 24
games with a 3-for-5 afternoon, driving in two runs. Clowers has also reached base in 28 straight
contests. Fuller, Aulds, Rapp, Sy and
Taylor Abdalla each added two hits apiece for the Warhawks.
Dorsey laced a one-out single up the middle
off ULM starter Randy Zeigler in the bottom of the first inning, scoring Campbell
to give South Alabama a 1-0 lead. Patterson
reached on a fielder's choice to second base and then moved to third base on a
single by Drew Cofield. Nick Zaharion
singled to right center, plating Patterson to make the score 2-0. Zeigler punched out Dalken looking to end the
frame.
ULM got its first hit of the game on a Rapp
single to left field in the top of the second.
Brandon Alexander laced a 1-0 offering from Jarron Cito into left to
give the Warhawks momentum. A sacrifice
bunt by Judd Edwards moved both runners into scoring position. Abdalla came through with a one-out single to
right field, scoring Rapp and Alexander to tie the game at 2-2.
South Alabama retook the lead in the bottom
of the second inning, as Earley slapped a double into the right field corner,
scoring Hook and Odom to give the Jaguars a 4-2 advantage. Zeigler forced Dorsey to ground out and
struck out Patterson swinging to halt the surge.
Sy led off the top of the third inning with a
single before advancing to third on base knock by Clowers. South Alabama second baseman Campbell made a
great play to stab a Rapp line drive for the inning's first out, and Cito
forced Alexander to ground into the 3-6-3 double play to stall the ULM
momentum.
Campbell worked a four-pitch walk against
reliever Kendall Thamm in the bottom of the fourth inning. Thamm then forced Earley to bounce into the
4-6-3 double play to end the frame.
Cito hit Sy with a pitch in the seventh inning
with one out. Clowers followed by shooting
a 2-1 offering into right field, scoring Sy to pull ULM within one run (4-3)
and chase Cito. Reliever Jaime Dennis
forced Rapp to fly out to left field for the second out of the inning. Pinch hitter Justin Stawychny reached first
base on an error by the first baseman Hook to move Clowers to third and extend
the inning. James Traylor struck out
Edwards swinging to end the inning.
Thamm threw five innings of scoreless
baseball in relief, surrendering three hits and striking out one batter. Browning allowed one hit over the final three
innings, punching out three Jaguar batters to earn the win.
Earley paced South Alabama with a 3-for-5
afternoon and drove in a pair of runs.
Zaharion added a base hit and an RBI.
ULM faces Florida Atlantic Thursday at 3 p.m.
in its second game of pool play at the Sun Belt Tournament. Due to a scheduling change, the game will now
be heard on 1680 AM in Monroe.
