STATESBORO, Ga. – The ULM Warhawks have fallen under the .500 mark for the first time this season, after giving up leads in the sixth and seventh innings of today's (Mar.24) Sun Belt double-header against Georgia Southern. The Eagles defeated the Warhawks 11-9 in game one, and 7-6 in game two.
 
The Warhawks (12-13, 2-6) wasted no time putting runs on the board in game one, posting three runs in the first inning.
 
Hunter Hogan started the scores, grounding out to short stop, but scoring Sydney McKay, who reached on a lead-off walk, on the play. Sophomore Cheyanne Lyon followed Hogan with an RBI single to right field, pulling in Rochelle Roberts and Jayden Mount in the process.
 
The Eagles (21-9, 6-2) answered with seven runs of their own, as the ULM pitching staff has proven to be the Achilles heel of the Warhawks this season.
 
"I'm proud of the way he hit and pieced together our offensive plays today," said head softball coach Corey Lyon. "But the bottom line is our defense and pitching is struggling to synch up, lacking the confidence and courage we need to succeed on that side of the ball, and until we grow in that sense, the games will keep falling like they did today."
 
Starting pitcher Rachael Murphy did all she could to keep the bats for Georgia Southern at bay, but back-to-back home runs and a single up the middle brought in three runs before Lyon called on Jessie Watts to relieve Murphy in the circle.
 
With Watts on the mound, the hit parade did not stop, as the Eagles brought in four more runs on four additional hits before the Warhawks ended the inning with a simple 3-4 ground out.
 
Georgia Southern tacked on one more run in the bottom of the second inning on an RBI single to right field by junior Macy Coleman, giving her team a five-run lead. Coleman would go on to finish the game 4-5 at the plate with four RBI and one homerun.
 
A third-inning grand slam by junior Brie Wrobel would cut GS's lead to only one, as the Warhawks would now trail 7-8. Wrobel scored Ana Hogan, Hunter Hogan, and Mount on her left-field dinger.
 
The Eagles took a 9-7 lead off of Coleman's home run in the bottom of the fifth, but Ana Hogan stepped up in the top of the sixth to tie the score for ULM, with a single through the left side that scored Roberts.
 
Unfortunately for the Hawks, their lead did not last long.
 
"We had opportunities today to execute defensive plays and make calls in the circle, but we didn't make the right choices and it showed on the scoreboard," Lyon said.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, Georgia Southern responded with a final offensive attack, ringing in the final go-ahead runs on a two-run RBI double to left-center field. The hit off the bat of sophomore Mekhia Freeman would give the Eagles the 11-9 game one win.
 
Game two started a bit slower for the two teams, as starting pitcher Paige Murray kept GS scoreless through the first two innings and five of the final seven.
As they did in game one, the Warhawks jumped out to a third-run lead early in the game. In the second inning, Georgia Southern's Rylee Waldrep loaded the bases and ULM took advantage of the scoring opportunity- junior Jaclyn Kresta would reach on Waldrep's third hit-by-pitch of the inning, scoring Lyon in the process.
 
Mount would walk with two outs on the board, scoring Megan Shaw, followed by an RBI single to left-field from Roberts, as the Warhawks took their first lead of the game.
 
Georgia Southern responded in the bottom of the third with five hits that would score five Eagles in the process. GS scored on three-straight multi-base hits, including back-to-back doubles from juniors Logan Harrell and Hannah Farrell.
 
Trailing by two-runs, ULM would take the lead one more time in the top of the fifth inning, going ahead 6-5 over the Eagles.
 
Hunter Hogan led off the inning with a first-pitch single through the left side and was scored when sister, Ana Hogan ripped a double to right-center. Scoring Hogan would be Shaw, who reached first on a fielding error by Georgia Southern's second baseman.
 
McKay earned her only RBI of the game with a single to left-field that scored Shaw on the play.
 
Both teams would go scoreless in the sixth inning, but ULM was unable to hold onto the lead as it slipped away in the bottom of the seventh, on a two out walk-off double by Georgia Southern's Coleman.
 
The Hawks will be back in action tomorrow (Mar.25) for game three in the ULM-GS series. First pitch is slated for 11 a.m.