MONROE, La. -- ULM starter Alex Hermeling tossed eight strong innings and Josh Leone closed the book on Arkansas State with a scoreless ninth inning as the Warhawks claimed a 3-2 win over the visiting Red Wolves on Friday night at Warhawk Field.
ULM (19-18, 6-10 Sun Belt Conference) pushed the first run across in the home half of the fourth inning. Danny Springer led off the inning with a walk and swiped his fifth bag of the season as he stole second. Springer moved to third on a single to right field by Jacob Stockton to give ULM runners as the corners with one out. Springer was able to race home and put ULM ahead on a squeeze bunt by Spencer Hemphill.
Arkansas State (14-21, 4-14 SBC), after being held scoreless over the first six innings, evened the game at 1-1 with two outs in the seventh as Ty White drove home Collin Massanelli with a RBI single through the left side.
The Warhawks answered right back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to retake the lead at 3-1. Kodie Tidwell led off the inning with a double to right center and moved to third on a fielding error by right fielder Ty White. Rasch was intentionally walked with one out in the frame and Springer followed with a RBI double to left center to put ULM ahead, 2-1. Later in the inning, Rasch was able to come home on an infield single by Stockton to give the Warhawks a two-run advantage (3-1) after seven complete innings.
The visiting Red Wolves scored the game's final run in the top of the eighth inning to set the final tally at 3-2 in favor of the Warhawks.
Hermeling logged eight strong innings, allowing two runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts. On the night, the RS-Junior tossed 100 pitches as he improved to 3-5 on the season. Leone notched his second save of the season as he tossed a perfect ninth inning, needing just nine pitches to do so.
Stockton led the Warhawks with three hits and one RBI, while Rasch and Tidwell each tallied two hits and scored once in the win.
Arkansas State reliever Colton Kibler (2-3) was tagged with the loss after allowing two runs on four hits and two walks. Kibler struck out two batters over the course of his 2 1/3 innings of work.
The two teams are scheduled to play game two on Saturday night at 6 p.m. Fans should follow ULMWarhawks.com for any potential changes to the weekend schedule.
For updates throughout the season on the baseball squad, be sure to follow the team on Twitter @ULM_BSB, Facebook (www.facebook.com/ULMBaseball) and Instagram (@ULM_BSB).
