MONROE, La. – Right-hander Chase Beal scattered two hits over 5.2 innings and combined with three other relievers for a three-hit shutout as ULM opened its first Sun Belt home series of the season with a 2-0 victory over Arkansas State Friday (March 23). It marked the first shutout win for ULM since April 16, 2016, against Georgia State (14-0).
 
Beal (2-2) faced 21 batters, recorded a season-high six strikeouts, issued two walks and hit a batter. He pitched around a lead-off double in the fourth inning.
 
"Friday night baseball usually means you're going to have a tight zone from the umpire, and I thought the umpire had a great zone and both starters pitched very well," first-year ULM head coach Michael Federico said. "Their guy didn't walk anybody, and we had to scratch and claw just to get those two runs. I'm very proud of our pitching staff. You talk about hanging zeroes every inning and when you can throw nine of them up there, it makes it really fun.
 
"(Heading into the game) I was a little worried because Chase Beal was going on six days rest. That's the scary part of it just because he's coming off an injury, but Chase does everything he needs to do to get ready for Friday night. He works all the time with our strength and conditioning coach Kyle Vagher and gets his bullpen sessions in. I'm glad to have him (back in the weekend rotation), and I'm excited for him to have such a good outing for us tonight."
 
"The arm is loosening up, and it's getting a lot better from outing to outing," Beal said. "It was a grind (getting back into the weekend rotation). I had a lot of off-the-field stuff to do, stretching and putting in a lot of work in the weight room, but my arm feels good.
 
"The two-seam sinker was working really well tonight. As the arm starts feeling better, the two-seam is getting there, and the slider was pretty good for me as well."
 
ULM (12-9, 2-2 Sun Belt) scored an unearned run in the bottom of the third. Pierce Khan reached on an error by the A-State second baseman to open the frame and advance to second on a bunt single by Braedon Barrett. Spencer Hemphill advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. A-State starter Bradey Welsh loaded the bases when he hit Joey Jordan with a pitch. Johnny DeLaCruz followed with an RBI sacrifice fly to center field.
 
The Warhawks added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh. Brendan Jordan opened the inning with a triple as A-State center fielder Logan Andersen attempted a diving catch, but the ball got past him and rolled all the way to the wall. Kahn followed with an RBI single up the middle.
 
"Brendan Jordan responded to the challenge that I gave him during BP (batting practice)," Federico said. "He wasn't into it, but he came out and put a couple of pretty good at-bats together. It's funny because in the dugout before Brendan went up there to lead-off the seventh, I said, 'look we need either a single, double or home run; don't even try to get to third base.' He hits it to center and the guy dives for it and the ball gets past him, but I was proud that he got to third.
 
"It also was a really good at-bat by Pierce Kahn to go up the middle and not try to do too much with the infield in. That was a huge hit because we haven't been great with runners in scoring position all year. We've been okay, but we haven't been great. That was a really great at-bat by Pierce."
 
The lead-off hitter reached base for A-State (8-11, 0-4) in the third, fourth and eighth innings, but the ULM pitchers stranded eight base runners.
 
The Warhawk bullpen was solid as three relievers combined to pitch 3.1 scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and one walk to go along with five strikeouts.
 
Miles Dunn entered the game with a runner on in the sixth and retired the only batter he faced. Cole Gray pitched two scoreless innings in relief, allowed one hit and one walk and struck out three. Keegan Curtis retired the side in order, including two strikeouts, in the ninth to earn his third save of the season.
 
"Miles Dunn has been a guy we've gone to in traffic," Federico said. "He's pretty good out of the stretch because that's what he does. Miles never throws out of the wind-up, so he's comfortable in those situations. He can usually keep the ball down enough to keep the ball in the yard.
 
"Cole Gray worked out of a (two-on and one-out) jam (in the seventh). It was unfortunate, but at the same time, I'm proud of the way he responded to the circumstance because he really hasn't pitched in a relief a ton. Cole is still learning the role, learning the situations and how to shorten up the game.
 
"Keegan Curtis came on in the ninth and slammed the door," Federico continued. "Keegan pitched two quality innings against Louisiana Tech (Wednesday), but I let him know he still might be needed to close tonight if the situation called for it. He said 'Coach, I want the ball,' and what's we need him to do.
 
"I've said all year that I like our back-end bullpen guys, so we've got to keep finding ways to get leads for them."
 
Welsh (1-3) pitched seven innings and allowed two runs, one earned, on eight hits with five strikeouts.
 
ULM outhit the Red Wolves, 8-3. Chad Bell went 2-for-4 to pace the Warhawk attack.
 
Game 2 of the weekend series is scheduled for Saturday, March 24 at 2 p.m. at Warhawk Field. Right-hander Nate Alberius (2-1, 1.61 ERA) gets the start for A-State while ULM counters with southpaw Trey Jeans (1-1, 5.25 ERA).
 
"You win on Friday night and that provides a sigh of relief for the weekend, but at the same time, you're trying to win weekends," Federico said. "I told our team that you've got to flush this thing really quick because Arkansas State is coming after us. They're 0-and-4 in the league right now, and they're playing for a lot. They didn't have to use a lot of arms tonight. We used four pitchers; they only used two, and the second guy didn't throw a whole lot. That's part of baseball. You have to flush the result really quick and get back out there. Hopefully, Trey Jeans can give us a quality start, and we can find a way to manufacture some runs."