ULM Warhawks

Conway, S.C. - The ULM Warhawks make their first postseason appearance on Tuesday afternoon when they face South Alabama in the opening round of the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Tournament. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at Springs Brooks Stadium.

Setting the Scene

The Warhawks earned the 10th and final seed in this week's tournament after picking up a 6-3 win over the Ragin' Cajuns on Thursday. ULM officially punched its ticket after Arkansas State lost the first two games of its final series to Little Rock.

ULM lost two of its three games over the weekend against the Ragin' Cajuns. The Warhawks won Thursday's series opener over the Cajuns, 6-3, before the Cajuns rallied to win a back-and-forth game 13-9 in 10 innings on Friday. The Cajuns then used three big innings to blow open Saturday's series finale en route to a 19-8 win in seven innings. The Warhawks capped the regular season at 24-29 overall and 12-17 in the SBC, good for fifth place in the West Division.

South Alabama is the seventh seed for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament after the Jaguars lost two of three games on the weekend to Troy. The Jaguars took Thursday night's series opener in Moblie 8-2 before dropping the final two games of the series 6-2 and 10-2. USA is 30-25 overall and finished 16-14 in SBC play, tied for third place in the East Division with Troy.

Tuesday's game marks the 51st all-time meeting between the Warhawks and the Jaguars, and the first meeting between the two teams this season. The two teams last met to open SBC play in Mobile last season, with the Jaguars winning the first two games of the series 5-3 and 6-0 before ULM won the Sunday finale 12-6 in eight innings.

This is the first postseason meeting between ULM and South Alabama since 2012, when the Warhawks opened the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a 7-4 win over the Jaguars. ULM went on to win the SBC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional. ULM is 2-1 against the Jaguars in SBC Tournament play, falling 5-3 in 2007 and winning 13-8 in 2009.

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 47-60 overall as the head coach at ULM.

South Alabama head coach Mark Calvi is in his eighth season with the Jaguars. Calvi has led the Jaguars to three SBC regular season championships and one SBC Tournament championship in his eight seasons.

Leading Off

Chad Bell continues to put a strong finish on his senior season. Bell is riding a career-high 19-game hitting streak, posting six hits for the second straight weekend against the Cajuns. Bell has also bashed at least one home run in four straight games. Bell opened the series against the Cajuns with a pair of hits, including a go-ahead three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning. On Friday night, Bell had three hits, including a double and another homer, while driving in two runs and scoring twice. On Saturday, Bell capped the weekend with a solo homer, clearing the batter's eye in center field. Bell now has 18 homers on the season to lead the Sun Belt Conference. He is also one home run shy of the school single season record of 19, set by Corey Taylor in 1998. Bell is also climbing the ULM single-season leaderboards in total bases with 142, tying Ben Soignier's 2009 season for fourth place. In the Sun Belt, Bell ranks second in slugging percentage (.676) and total bases (142), seventh in RBIs (50) and eighth in hits (70). 

Andrew Beesley continues to hold steady for the Warhawk offense. Beesley is second on the Warhawks in batting average at .337. Beesley is 10th in the SBC with 69 hits and is tied for seventh with 14 stolen bases.

Ryan Humeniuk continues to excel at getting on base. The junior had a 22-game reached base streak snapped in game two of a doubleheader vs. UT Arlington on May 3, but has since reached base safely in the following seven games to reach base in 29 of his last 30 games. The stretch started on March 26 at Louisiana Tech. He has hit safely in 23 of those 30 games.

Trent Tingelstad sits in the top 10 of the SBC in several categories. Tingelstad is third in the Sun Belt with a .344 batting average, third in on base percentage at .463 and eighth in slugging percentage at .570. He is tied for fifth in doubles at 16, tied for the conference lead in triples with four and fifth in walks with 38.