BATON ROUGE, La. - ULM had its season come to an end Sunday with an 11-2
loss to No. 16 Oregon State at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional. The Warhawks finished
the season with a record of 32-30.
ULM had an outstanding season that included winning the Sun Belt
Conference Tournament championship last week and earning its first trip to the
NCAA Tournament since 2000. The Warhawks' 6-3 victory over Belmont yesterday
ensured the team of being one of the final 40 teams remaining in the
tournament.
ULM was unable to get anything going offensively against the Beavers,
stranding 10 runners in the game, including two in each of the first three
innings. ULM pounded out eight hits in the game and was led by senior Jeremy Sy's
2-for-3 performance at the plate.
Oregon State's Ben Wetzler (8-2) settled down after a shaky start and nearly
went the distance on the mound. The left hander gave up two runs (0 earned) on
eight hits and striking out eight in 8.2 innings.
Oregon State got on the board first, scoring three of its four runs in
the second inning with two outs off ULM starter Shelby Aulds. Tyler Smith
cranked a single through the left side to score two and give the Beavers a 3-0
advantage. Michael Conforto added an RBI single to right center to make the
score 4-0. Kendall Thamm came on in relief and struck out Danny Hayes to get
the Warhawks out of the jam.
Aulds (3-3) lasted just 1.2 innings, giving up four runs on six hits
and a walk.
ULM scored a run in the top of the third inning to cut the score to 4-1.
Jeremy Sy came around to score from second on a fielding error by OSU's John
Tommasini at second base off the bat of Joey Rapp. Sy reached earlier in the inning on a walk and
went to second on a sacrifice bunt from Caleb Clowers.
The Beavers opened up a 7-1 advantage with three runs in the fourth
inning. Conforto had the big blow with a two-run double into the right-center
gap. Ryan Dunn added a sacrifice fly to centerfield, scoring Conforto from
third.
Oregon State added two more runs in the fifth inning and a pair of runs
in the seventh inning to take an 11-1 lead.
The Warhawks pushed across a run in the ninth inning when pinch runner
Devin Malone scored on a wild pitch with two outs.
