STATESBORO, Ga. – A seventh-inning home run from junior Amye Barre lifted the Warhawks (23-8, 7-2 SBC) to a win in game two of Saturday's doubleheader, securing a sweep on the day and a series win over Georgia Southern (8-34, 1-10 SBC).
The two wins on the day moved the Warhawks to seven wins in Sun Belt play, surpassing the six total conference wins of the 2014 season.
Multi-RBI home runs were the key to the offensive success in the doubleheader sweep. Game one saw a three-RBI shot from sophomore Vanessa Garcia, and the seventh-inning two-RBI bomb from Barre securing the game two win.
Sophomores Melanie Coyne and Ashley Dumoulin picked up the wins in the circle for the Warhawks. Dumoulin's win is the first in her career at ULM with Coyne's win moving her to 8-4 on the season.
Game 1 (W, 8-6)
The Warhawk offense knock home six runs in the first inning to claim an 8-6 shoot-out victory over Georgia Southern in game one of Saturday's doubleheader match up.
The win marked ULM's sixth win in conference play, matching 2014's Sun Belt win total.
The six-run first inning was capped off with a three-RBI home run from Garcia, who went 2-for-4 on the day.
Senior Alexis Cacioppo went 1-for-3 with an RBI with junior Faith Bohack and sophomore Rochelle Roberts going 2-for-3 and 2-for-4 respectively with one RBI a piece. Bohack and Roberts combined for three of ULM's eight runs.
Redshirt senior Miyuki Navarrete went a perfect 3-for-3, scoring one run for the Warhawks.
Sophomore Melanie Coyne picked up the win, going five innings and striking out five batters. Coyne accounted for all six of the Georgia Southern runs. The sophomore moved to 8-4 on the season with the victory.
Coyne also went 2-for-3 at the plate with a double and scored a Warhawk run.
Senior Jessica Colliver continued her streak of dominating relief outings, going two innings of shutout work. Colliver allowed only four hits and struck out three Eagles in game one.
Roberts led off the game with a bunt single and recorded her 23rd steal of the season by swiping second. Bohack knocked a bunt single to first base and advanced to second, Roberts moved to third on the play and scored on the throw (1-0 ULM).
Redshirt senior Miyuki Navarrete drew a walk to put two Warhawks on the bases. Cacioppo reached on a throwing error, allowing Navarrete to advance to third and Bohack to score (2-0 ULM).
Cacioppo moved to second on the stolen base. A pass ball moved Cacioppo to third and brought Navarrete home (3-0 ULM).
Junior Amye Barre drew a walk to put two on the corners with no outs, and Garcia delivered a fatal blow with her second home run on the season. Garcia's three-RBI shot gave the Warhawks a 6-0 advantage that they carried to the bottom of the first.
Georgia Southern would answer in the bottom of the first with a string of three-straight hits to drive the score to 6-2 before Coyne delivered three strikeouts to close the inning.
After a scoreless second, Georgia Southern's Emily Snider led off the bottom of third with solo home run shot to cut the Warhawk lead to 6-3. Coyne issued a walk following the homer, and the Eagles knocked a double to cut the lead to 6-4.
The Warhawks made a change in the circle, bringing in Colliver for her 18th relief appearance. Colliver forced a ground out to secure the first out of the inning, but Georgia Southern used a single to cut the lead to one run, 6-5 ULM.
Georgia Southern would load the bases with two-outs, but the Warhawk defense held strong to keep a 6-5 lead after three innings.
A scoreless fourth inning was followed by Georgia Southern using two singles and an error to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fifth. The Warhawk defense turned a bases-loaded triple play on a fly out by throwing out base runners advancing at third and home to keep the Eagles off the board.
After coming back into pitch in the fifth inning, Coyne knocked a one-out double to give the Warhawks a base runner in the sixth inning. Roberts followed with a triple to left center, her third of the season, to push the ULM lead to 7-5.
Bohack knocked a sacrifice fly to center field to drive the lead to 8-5 Warhawks.
Georgia Southern battled back with a two-out home run from Morgan Robinson in the bottom of the sixth, cutting the ULM lead to 8-6, but the Warhawks held strong to pick up the game one victory.
Game 2 (W, 7-5)
A seventh-inning, homer from Amy Barre lifted the Warhawks to a win in game two of the doubleheader, securing the Saturday sweep and series win.
Barre went 2-for-3 in game two with two RBI and scoring two runs for the Warhawks. Cacioppo matched with a 2-for-3 outing, scoring a Warhawk run. Four additional Warhawks had added an RBI each to the ULM scoring effort.
Freshman Paige Porter started in the circle for the Warhawks, going 3.1 innings, striking out one and accounting for all five of Georgia Southern's runs.
Colliver saw 0.2 innings of scoreless relief before sophomore Ashley Dumoulin came into the game to pitch the final three innings.
Dumoulin allowed a lone hit in her outing and struck out two Eagles as she picked up her first win as a Warhawk.
With two outs in the bottom of the first, Georgia Southern used back-to-back singles to put two Eagles on the bases. A two-out home run from A.J. Hamilton gave Georgia Southern an early 0-3 lead.
Barre led off the second inning with a single to right center field. Barre stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Freshman Cheyanne Lyon singled to bring home Barre and cut the lead to 1-3.
Sophomore Sidney Coy executed the sacrifice bunt to move Lyon to second. Senior Mackenzie Miller singled to right field and advanced to second on the throw while Lyon held at third base.
Roberts knocked a sacrifice fly to centerfield to cut the lead to 2-3 Georgia Southern. Back-to-back pass balls moved Miller from second to score and lock the game at 3-all.
After Bohack reached on a fielding error and swiped second to get into scoring position, Navarrete doubled to give ULM its first lead of the game, 4-3.
Coy led off the top of fourth with a walk. After swiping second, Coy advanced to third on a sacrifice-bunt from Miller. Roberts drew a walk and advanced to second on a stolen base to put two Warhawks in scoring position.
Bohack grounded out to the pitcher, bringing home Coy and driving the Warhawk lead to 5-3.
Georgia Southern answered back in the bottom of the fourth inning, using four singles to drive home two runs and lock the game at 5-all.
The game would remain tied still the seventh inning. Navarrete reached on a hit by pitch to put the lead runner on for the Warhawks, but Georgia Southern threw out the redshirt senior as she attempted to swipe second.
Cacioppo doubled to right field to put the go-head run in scoring position. With two-outs, Barre knocked what became a game-winning, two-RBI homer to give the Warhawks a 7-5 victory.
ULM goes for the series sweep over Georgia Southern on Sunday, March 29 at 12 p.m.
For the latest on ULM softball, visit ULMWarhawks.com and follow the team on Twitter (@ULM_Softball) and Facebook (facebook.com/ULMSoftball).
