ULM Warhawks

Hattiesburg, Miss. - The ULM baseball team embarks on a five-game road trip, starting with Tuesday's mid-week game at Pete Taylor Park. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.

Setting the Scene

The Warhawks are 7-12 on the season after getting swept at home by No. 16 Coastal Carolina in the first SBC series of the weekend, losing 13-3, 14-2 and 15-7.
Tuesday's game is the lone meeting of the season between the Warhawks and the Golden Eagles.

The two programs have not met since 2015, when the Warhawks lost a mid-week game in Hattiesburg, 9-3, on April 21.

Tuesday's game is the 66th all-time meeting between the two teams. Southern Miss leads the all-time series 47-18 over the Warhawks. USM has won three straight games in the series, with the Warhawks last winning 6-5 over then No. 24 Southern Miss in Monroe on Feb. 26, 2013.

ULM head coach Michael Federico is in his second season with the Warhawks. He led the team to an 11-win improvement in his first season, as the Warhawks posted a 23-31 record in 2018. He is 30-43 overall as the head coach at ULM.

Tuesday's game is a homecoming of sorts for Federico. He spent nine seasons as an assistant coach at Southern Miss prior to accepting the head coaching job at ULM. He also played for the Golden Eagles and earned two degrees from Southern Miss, one in 1997 and another in 1999.

Southern Miss head coach Scott Berry is in his 10th season with the Golden Eagles. Berry has led the Golden Eagles to three Conference USA tournament titles, four league regular season championships and five NCAA Tournament appearances. Southern Miss picked up a sweep in its opening weekend of play in Conference USA. The Golden Eagles took three games from Louisiana Tech in Ruston, winning 12-9 on Friday, 5-1 on Saturday and 10-5 on Sunday.

Leading Off

Through Sunday's games, ULM ranks 11th in the Sun Belt Conference as a team in batting average at .246. ULM has 150 hits, 24 doubles, three triples and nine home runs with 100 runs scored. The Warhawks have also compiled 147 strikeouts to 94 walks. On the mound, ULM ranks last in the SBC in team ERA at 7.12. The Warhawks have given up 154 runs, 129 earned, on 186 hits with 171 strikeouts and 103 walks.

The Warhawks lost their first three Sun Belt Conference games of the season over the weekend to No. 16 Coastal Carolina. On Friday, the Chants took the series opener 13-3. With the game tied at 1, the Chanticleers scored five runs in the fourth inning, including a three-run home run by Cory Wood, to take a 6-1 lead. The Chants added four runs in the seventh and hit four total home runs in the game. Chad Bell led ULM with two hits, including a double, and a run scored.

On Saturday, Coastal Carolina rallied and pulled away over the final five innings for the 14-2 win over ULM. The Warhawks claimed a 2-0 lead with Trent Tingelstad's RBI single in the first inning and Braedon Barrett's sacrifice fly in the third inning, both scoring Ryan Humeniuk. However, Coastal used three hits and three walks to score four runs in the fifth inning to take the lead, and pulled away with a six-run sixth inning, including a grand slam by Mike Koenig.

On Sunday, Coastal Carolina capped the series sweep of ULM with a 15-7 win. The Chanticleers led 6-0 after the top of the second, but ULM worked its way back in the game with Joey Jordan's RBI on a fielder's choice and Trent Tingelstad's 3-RBI double to trail 6-4 after two innings. ULM trailed 7-6 in the seventh inning when Coastal took advantage of four doubles, two walks and a ULM error to plate six runs in the inning and pull away for the win. Tingelstad had four hits in the loss. Conner Deeds threw 4.1 innings in relief, giving up two runs on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

ULM is 0-4 in true road games this season, and 3-6 in games played away from Warhawk Field. ULM has lost all three of its mid-week road games, falling 15-0 at Northwestern State and losing 10-3 and 7-1 at Southeastern Louisiana.