Monroe, La. - Coastal Carolina scored the first six runs of Sunday's series finale, but after ULM rallied, the Chanticleers pulled away again late for the 15-7 win to sweep the Sun Belt opening series at Warhawk Field.
The Chanticleers (16-4-1 overall, 3-0 Sun Belt) scored three runs in each of the first two innings to build a 6-0 lead. Coastal's Jake Wright, who finished with six RBIs on the day and 13 for the series, hit an RBI double in the first inning and a three-run homer in the second inning.
ULM (7-12 overall, 0-3 Sun Belt) bounced back in the bottom of the second. After
Logan Wurm and
Blake Buckman reached on errors to open the inning,
Braedon Barrett singled to left to load the bases.
Joey Jordan drove in a run on a fielder's choice to get the Warhawks on the board. After
Colin Gordon reached on a fielder's choice and
Ryan Humeniuk walked to load the bases,
Trent Tingelstad came through with a bases-clearing double, driving in three runs to cut the Coastal deficit to 6-4.
Both teams were scoreless until the fifth inning. Coastal scored in the top of the fifth when
Conner Deeds hit a batter with the bases loaded and two outs, forcing in a run to push the Chanticleer lead to 7-4. The Warhawks responded in the bottom of the fifth with Tingelstad's leadoff single and
Chad Bell's double to put runners on second and third with nobody out. Back-to-back RBI groundouts from
Andrew Beesley and Wurm brought the Warhawks within a run at 7-6.
After a scoreless sixth inning, Coastal broke the game open again in the seventh. The Chants used four doubles among five hits in the inning, along with two walks and a Warhawk error to push six runs across the plate and lead 13-6. The Chants added single runs in the eighth and ninth innings before an RBI single by Tingelstad scored
Nathan Miranda in the bottom of the ninth for the 15-7 margin.
Tingelstad had a strong day at the plate for ULM, going 4-for-5 with a double and four RBIs. The Warhawks tallied eight hits as a team, with Bell,
Brendan Jordan, Barrett and
Masen Prososki collecting the others.
Kayleb Sanderson was roughed up in his start on the mound, giving up six runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts in two innings. Deeds settled the Chanticleer bats in relief, lasting 4.1 innings with two runs on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
Matt Eardensohn picked up the win in relief for the Chanticleers, throwing three perfect innings with five strikeouts.
The Warhawks now embark on a five-game road trip starting Tuesday against Southern Miss. First pitch is at 6 p.m. Visit ULMWarhawks.com for links to live video, audio and stats.
