Monroe, La. - The ULM Warhawks return to Warhawk Field for eight of the final 10 games of the regular season, starting Tuesday night against Alcorn State. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
Setting The Scene
The Warhawks have won three of their last four games, picking up a 5-4 midweek win over Southern last Tuesday, rallying past Arkansas State for an 11-4 win on Friday, dropping a 4-3 game in 12 innings on Saturday to the Red Wolves before bouncing back to win the series with a 4-2 victory over A-State on Sunday in Jonesboro. ULM is now 19-24 overall and 8-12 in the Sun Belt.
Alcorn State has won its last two games to win its weekend series over Mississippi Valley State. The Braves dropped Friday night's contest 3-2 before rebounding with a 7-6 win on Saturday. Alcorn then won the series with a 14-12 victory on Sunday afternoon to move to 13-26 overall and 6-14 in the SWAC.
Tuesday's game marks the sixth all-time meeting between ULM and Alcorn State. The Warhawks lead the all-time series 5-0. ULM defeated the Braves twice in 2013, winning 12-0 on Feb. 16 and 7-3 on Feb. 17 at Warhawk Field as part of the season-opening ULM Baseball Tournament. ULM also picked up a pair of wins over Alcorn State in a doubleheader on Feb. 18, 1998, in Monroe, sweeping the Braves 7-2 and 10-0. The two teams first met on March 15, 1994, with ULM picking up a 6-1 victory, also in Monroe.
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 42-55 overall as the head coach at ULM.
Alcorn State head coach Bretton Richardson is in his fourth season with the Braves. Prior to taking over at Alcorn, Richardson served as an assistant coach and interim head coach at Florida A&M. Richardson helped the Rattlers to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 2015. He played at Florida A&M in the early 1990s.
Leading Off
The Warhawks opened the weekend series at Arkansas State with an 11-4 win on Friday night in Jonesboro. ULM fell behind 4-0 through two innings thanks to a pair of early errors and three walks. However, the Warhawk bats went to work in the top of the third inning, pounding out seven hits in the inning to score six runs, all with two outs, and take a 6-4 lead.
Chad Bell added a solo home run in the fourth inning, while
Joey Jordan added a 2-RBI double in the fifth inning. A passed ball and an RBI single by
Brendan Jordan allowed the Warhawks to score two more runs in the sixth inning for the 11-4 lead.
Trey Jeans settled in on the mound, retiring 15 straight Red Wolves at one point while striking out a season-high nine batters in picking up his third win of the season.
Andrew Beesley and
Brendan Jordan had four hits each in the win.
ULM came up short in Saturday's game at Arkansas State, falling 4-3 in 12 innings. It was the first extra inning game for ULM this season. The Warhawks led 2-0 early when a fielder's choice by
Ryan Humeniuk scored
Joey Jordan in the first inning, and an RBI double by
Andrew Beesley plated Jordan in the third. A-State tied the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. ULM regained the lead in the eighth inning when Beesley scored on a fielder's choice by
Logan Wurm. However, A-State tied the game in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single by Will Huber, and won the game on an RBI single by Kyle MacDonald in the 12th inning. Beesley added four more hits in the loss.
In Sunday's series finale, a 3-run top of the fifth inning was all ULM needed in a 4-2 victory to claim the series.
Colin Gordon reached on a walk and scored on a wild pitch, while an error brought home
Braedon Barrett.
Andrew Beesley picked up an RBI single to plate
Joey Jordan for the 3-1 lead. A-State closed within a run at 3-2, but
Chad Bell threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the eighth inning, and expanded the lead in the ninth with a solo home run.
Kayleb Sanderson picked up his third win of the season by pitching 5 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
Andrew Beesley picked up 10 hits last week, including nine in the series against Arkansas State. He now leads the Warhawks in batting average at .370 on the season, ranking second in the Sun Belt Conference behind Appalachian State's Luke Drumheller (.373). Beesley is tied for the league lead in hits with 61 (Steven Curry, Georgia Southern), is sixth in stolen bases with 14 and 10th in on base percentage at .442.
Chad Bell continued his power surge over the weekend, hitting a pair of home runs in the series at A-State. Bell now has 11 home runs on the season to tie for second in the Sun Belt. He is third in the SBC in total bases with 99 and fifth in slugging percentage at .586.
Trey Jeans has moved into the top 10 in the SBC in ERA. Jeans is ninth in the conference with a 3.61 ERA after giving up just one earned run over seven innings at Arkansas State on Friday. Jeans has given up three earned runs over his last three starts, dropping his ERA by 1.34.
