Jonesboro, Ark. – Four ULM pitchers combined to limit Arkansas State to four hits, as the Warhawks picked up a 4-2 win on Sunday afternoon at Kell Field at Tomlinson Stadium. ULM picked up a win in the weekend series in the process, two games to one.
"Every series is important for us," said head coach Michael Federico. "We're trying to take the next step in the process of this program. This is a huge one."
The win moves ULM (19-24, 8-12 Sun Belt) into fifth place in the West Division of the Sun Belt Conference and into 10th place overall in the SBC, just ahead of the Ragin' Cajuns, who were swept by first-place Texas State over the weekend. The top 10 teams in the SBC, regardless of division, will play in the conference tournament in Conway, S.C. in four weeks.
Offensive production was scarce for both teams on Sunday, as the Warhawks and Arkansas State (23-21, 9-12) combined for just six runs and eight hits in the game. ULM starting pitcher Kayleb Sanderson needed just 22 pitches to navigate the first three innings. Sanderson said he felt comfortable on the mound.
"Mainly my fast ball," Sanderson said. "For the first three innings, I didn't throw a breaking ball. I just pounded the zone."
In the fourth inning, Sanderson gave up his first hit, a solo home run to Kyle MacDonald, as A-State took a 1-0 lead.
The lead was short lived. ULM answered in the top of the fifth inning. With one out, Colin Gordon drew a walk, and Braedon Barrett followed with a single. A wild pitch allowed Gordon to score, while Bradeon Barrett scored when Trent Tingelstad reached on an error. Joey Jordan reached on a walk and came home on Andrew Beesley's two-out RBI single for a 3-1 lead.
A-State took advantage of a lead-off walk in the bottom of the sixth inning. Andrew Leggo hit a triple into the right field corner, scoring Jake Jablonski to pull within 3-2. After Sanderson picked up a pop out, he walked Justin Felix to put runners on the corners with two outs. Federico made the decision to go to the bullpen, bringing in left-hander Justin Barton, who forced Sky-Lar Culver to fly out to left to end the threat. For Barton, it was a chance at redemption after giving up a lead-off single in the ninth inning to Culver on Saturday night.
"I have all the trust in the world in (catcher Logan) Wurm and my defense," Barton said. "My phrase is 'one pitch away.' I just try to put my trust in that and put my trust in the defense."
A-State threatened again in the eighth inning. Barton issued a lead-off walk to Drew Tipton, who stole a base and advanced to third on Leggo's sacrifice bunt with one out. After an intentional walk to MacDonald put runners at first and third, Federico again went to the bullpen, bringing in Miles Dunn. Dunn forced Felix into a ground ball to third. Chad Bell fielded the ball cleanly and threw home, where Wurm tagged out Tipton in a close play at the plate to keep the game tied.
"Anytime you're in a first and third situation with one out, I always try to play situations in my head," Bell said. "I saw that ball wasn't hit well, so that immediately ruled out the double play ball. I just tried to get a quick transfer and throw a strike to Logan Wurm."
"With a runner on first and one out, I was just trying to sink it," Dunn said. "I was disappointed in myself for not getting a double play. Got a groundout, which I was there to do. Chad made a phenomenal play."
Conner Deeds came on to record the final out of the eighth inning, keeping the Warhawks ahead 3-2.
In the top of the ninth, Bell came through again, this time hitting a solo home run to right center. His 11th homer of the year doubled the ULM lead to 4-2.
"(A-State pitcher Kollin Stone) was coming cutter, cutter, cutter," Bell said. "I was thinking right-center gap, kind of get the head out. It's kind of hard to go opposite field with a cutter, especially when he's working in. That was the only four-seam fastball I saw. I saw it out of the hand, saw it up and put a good swing on it."
Deeds gave up a lead-off single in the bottom of the ninth, but then induced a pair of pop ups before picking up a strike out to close out the 4-2 victory. Deeds, who has been used as a spot starter, a long reliever, and a match-up pitcher, picked up his first save.
"Conner is one of those guys that he has a very difficult role for us because he's a hybrid guy," Federico said. "He can start for us, he can be a long reliever, he can be a match-up guy. Never thought I'd be able to close with him, but we've got a couple guys out. I felt like he was the better match-up with some of the lefties that they had. I felt like with the game being close right there, we needed to have somebody that could sink the baseball a little bit better. I thought his two-seamer was really working well. He threw a couple changeups and a couple sliders. I had all the confidence in the world."
Sanderson picked up his first win since March 2, throwing 5 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts to improve to 3-3.
"They were early aggressive with him, which typically most people are going to be because he does throw a lot of strikes," Federico said. "He was able to get some pop ups, which helped his pitch count stay down."
Bell paced the Warhawk offense with two of the team's four hits. Andrew Beesley added an RBI single, and Ryan Humeniuk walked twice to reach base safely for the 20th
"It's never easy winning on the road, especially in this conference and especially against Arkansas State, a very good ball club," Bell said. "It's definitely big for us, knowing we don't have very much time left, knowing we have to make some ground up. Definitely a big, big win and we got to carry that on this week."
The Warhawks return to Warhawk Field on Tuesday to host Alcorn State with first pitch at 6 p.m. For tickets, call 318-342-HAWK or visit ULMWarhawks.com. Links to live video, audio and stats are available at ULMWarhawks.com.
