ULM Warhawks

Monroe, La. - ULM returns to Warhawk Field for a four-game home stand, starting on Tuesday night with the second game in the season series with I-20 rival Louisiana Tech. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.

Setting the Scene

The Warhawks are coming off a stretch in which they have played six of their last seven games on the road. The span started with a loss at No. 5 Mississippi State before sweeping Sun Belt Conference foe Georgia State in Atlanta. After defeating Northwestern State 8-4 at Warhawk Field on Wednesday, ULM then lost both games at Appalachian State, falling 3-2 on Friday and 10-8 on Saturday, before the third game of the series was unable to be completed due to fog and rain in Boone, N.C.

Louisiana Tech has been red hot since ULM defeated the Bulldogs 9-4 in Ruston on March 26. The Bulldogs have lost just once since, winning 10 straight games before dropping Sunday's series finale at Florida Atlantic.

Tuesday's game marks the 182nd all-time meeting between the Warhawks and Bulldogs. Louisiana Tech leads the series 104-77. ULM picked up its first win in the series in 12 years on March 26 with the 9-4 win at Tech. The Warhawks last defeated the Bulldogs at Warhawk Field on May 16, 2007, picking up a 12-9. The two teams have met in each season since 2015.

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 38-51 overall as the head coach at ULM.

Louisiana Tech head coach Lane Burroughs is in his third season leading the Bulldogs. Burroughs is 99-51 at Louisiana Tech, leading the Bulldogs to a second-place finish in the regular season in Conference USA in 2018. Burroughs is in his sixth season as a head coach, after previously leading Northwestern State for three seasons.

Leading Off

Trent Tingelstad ranks among the Sun Belt Conference's best hitters. Tingelstad is third in batting average at .373, while leading the SBC in on base percentage at .506 and is fourth in slugging percentage at .627. He is tied for sixth in hits at 47, tied for fifth in doubles with 11, fourth in total bases with 79 and tied for fifth in RBIs with 33. Tingelstad is tied for second in the league in walks with 30. Tingelstad hit a pair of home runs on Wednesday against Northwestern State to give him five for the year.

Chad Bell has continued his power surge, hitting five home runs over the past two weeks. Bell is now tied for third in the Sun Belt with eight home runs. Bell is eighth in total bases with 74 on the season.

Ryan Humeniuk and Andrew Beesley are among the top base stealers in the Sun Belt Conference. Humeniuk is fifth in the SBC with 14 steals, while Beesley is sixth with 13 stolen bags.

Weather played a significant role in ULM's weekend series at Appalachian State. Friday's series opener was pushed up to a 1 p.m. start due to the potential for rain and fog later in the day. The game featured a pitchers' duel, with App State's Will Sprinkle getting the best of ULM's Trey Jeans. Ryan Humeniuk hit a 2-run home run in the second inning, but it was the only offensive production for the Warhawks in a 3-2 loss. Jeans set a new career-high by pitching all eight innings, giving up three runs, with only one earned, on four hits with no walks and seven strikeouts to take the tough-luck loss.

Saturday's scheduled doubleheader at App turned into one full game and a partial game, which was initially suspended until Sunday. The game featured two rain delays, with a delay breaking up a big inning for each side, with App prevailing 10-8. ULM led 3-0 through four innings, but App scored five runs in the sixth inning to take the lead. ULM answered in the top of the eighth, tying the game at five before a 50-minute rain delay hit. Out of the delay, ULM continued the big inning with Logan Wurm picking up his third hit of the day, a 2-RBI single to center, to give the Warhawks a 7-5 lead. Masen Prososki would score on a wild pitch for an 8-5 advantage. App answered with another five-run inning, tying the game at 8 before another rain delay hit, this time lasting nearly two hours, before Kendall McGowan hit a 2-RBI single to put the Mountaineers up 10-8.

After playing two full innings of the third game of the series on Saturday afternoon, fog settled in at Smith Stadium and forced the suspension of the game to Sunday morning. However, more rain and fog forced the ultimate cancelation of the game.

In the first meeting with Louisiana Tech, Blake Buckman hit a game-tying 3-run home run in the sixth inning, and the Warhawks mounted a five-run rally in the eighth inning to pick up the 9-4 win. Cole Gray pitched 2 2/3 shutout innings in relief for the win.