ULM Warhawks

Conway, S.C. - The ULM Warhawks continue their run through the Sun Belt Conference Championship on Thursday when they meet UT Arlington in a winner's bracket game. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. at Springs Brooks Stadium in Conway, S.C.

Setting the Scene

ULM has won its first two games in the SBC Championship for the first time since 2012, when the Warhawks defeated South Alabama and Florida Atlantic in the first two games before eventually winning the tournament title. The Warhawks are now 26-29 overall and finished 12-17 in the SBC, good for fifth place in the West Division.

UT Arlington is the fourth seed in the SBC Championship. The Mavericks won their first game in the tournament on Wednesday, rallying twice to top host and fifth seed Coastal Carolina 9-8 in 10 innings. UTA scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take the lead, only to have the Chanticleers answer with five runs of their own in the top of the ninth to go back up 8-6. UTA tied the game at 8 in the bottom of the ninth before winning the game on Zac Cook's walk-off RBI single. The Mavericks are 32-24 overall and finished 17-12 in the SBC.

Thursday's game marks the 86th all-time meeting between the Warhawks and Mavericks, with UTA leading the series 51-34. ULM picked up the season series victory by taking the final two games of this year's series in Monroe, winning 8-0 in the final game of Friday's doubleheader before picking up a 6-3 victory in Sunday's series finale. UTA won the first game of the Friday doubleheader 10-2.

ULM and UT Arlington last met in the postseason in 2004, when both teams were members of the Southland Conference. ULM picked up the 6-5 win over UTA on May 28 to avoid elimination.The two teams also met twice in the 2003 Southland Conference tournament, with UTA defeating ULM 15-10 and 6-4 to knock the Warhawks out of the tournament.

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 49-60 overall as the head coach at ULM.

UTA head coach Darin Thomas is in his 12th season with the Mavericks. Thomas is 350-339 at UTA, leading the Mavericks to the NCAA Tournament in 2012 by winning the Southland Conference tournament. The Mavericks won a share of the 2013 Western Athletic Conference title.

Leading Off

Chad Bell continues to put a strong finish on his senior season. Bell had a 20-game hitting streak come to an end in Wednesday's win over Texas State, going 0-for-4 with a RBI and two strikeouts. Bell has 18 home runs 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 143, sitting alone in fourth place, one behind Jason Wolfe's 1999 season with 144 total bases. In the Sun Belt, Bell ranks second in slugging percentage (.656) and total bases (143), sixth in RBIs (52) and tied for 10th in hits (71). 

Andrew Beesley continues to hold steady for the ULM offense. Beesley is second on the Warhawks in batting average at .335. Beesley is tied for 10th in the SBC with 71 hits and is tied for eighth 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 followed that game by reaching base in the next seven games. After failling to reach base safely on Tuesday, Humeniuk has reached base in 30 of the last 32 games. The stretch started on March 26 at Louisiana Tech. 

Trent Tingelstad sits in the top 10 of the SBC in several categories. Tingelstad is sixth in the Sun Belt with a .342 batting average, third in on base percentage at .467 and eighth in slugging percentage at .565. He is tied for third in doubles at 17, tied for the conference lead in triples with four and tied for second in walks with 42.

Two seniors, Joey Jordan and Braeden Barrett, saved two of their top performances for their first postseason games. Jordan has six hits with three RBIs over the first two games of the tournament, while Barrett has five hits and three RBIs.