Monroe, La. - For 17 out of 18 innings on Friday, the ULM pitching staff was on point. One bad inning in game one allowed UT Arlington to pull away for a 10-2 win, but Ty Barnes tossed the first complete game shutout by a Warhawk pitcher in four years in game two, helping ULM pick up an 8-0 win to salvage a doubleheader split at Warhawk Field.
Offensively, the Warhawks (21-25 overall, 9-13 Sun Belt) struggled to string hits together in the first game, but used two big innings in game two to build a cushion for Barnes.
Barnes needed 106 pitches to complete the first complete game shutout by a Warhawk pitcher since Alex Hermeling in a 6-0 win vs. Sam Houston State on Feb. 28, 2015. It's the first complete game shut out by a ULM pitcher in a Sun Belt Conference game since Shelby Aulds threw one against Middle Tennessee on April 21, 2012.
"I felt great," Barnes said. "It's the best I've ever felt."
Barnes scattered seven hits while walking one Maverick and striking out three others, relying on his defense to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Barnes said the other key was consistently getting ahead in the count.
"It's a huge difference in batting at 0-1 and 1-0 pitches," Barnes said. "Getting ahead is huge. Also, landing your secondary pitch is really big in being successful."
Barnes was efficient all game, throwing just 31 balls on the day to 75 strikes. Barnes had not thrown more than 80 pitches and 5 1/3 innings all season, but went well beyond it with his biggest workload of the season. It appeared Barnes' day was done after retiring UTA cleanup hitter Andrew Miller on a fly ball to end the top of the eighth inning, receiving a big greeting from the dugout. However, Barnes convinced head coach Michael Federico he could return for the ninth inning.
"Coach came up to me and was like, 'Good job, Ty. You're done,'" Barnes said. "I said, 'Coach, let me do it.' We haven't had a shutout this season. I really wanted it. That's what kept me going."
"He looked me in the eye and said, 'Coach, I want to finish this thing,'" Federico said. "He felt comfortable and wanted to be given that opportunity. I felt like where it was a moment where we could do that because we were up 8-0. If it was a little closer it would've been a no-brainer to go to Landon and some of those guys. I'm excited that we had somebody that had that will and had that intestinal fortitude to say, 'I want it coach.' It wasn't about him. It was about the win. It was about trying to save our bullpen and all those kind of things. Selfishly, I think in the back of his mind it was there, but at the same time, he was wanting us to win and see if he could finish that thing."
Barnes was given a nice cushion thanks to two big innings from the offense. Joey Jordan's sacrifice fly scored Masen Prososki for the 1-0 lead in the third inning, and Chad Bell extended his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games with his 13th home run of the season, a two-run blast two right field to push the lead to 3-0 after the third.
"I was seeing a lot of off-speed all day," Bell said. "Even that lefty in that first game was throwing some cutters. I went up there sitting left center. That puts me on top of the off speed. I saw the curveball out of the hand and got enough of it."
The Warhawks then blew the game open in the fifth inning, scoring five runs. Jordan added an RBI single, while Bell hit a 2-RBI double, Andrew Beesley added an RBI double and Ryan Humeniuk hit a sacrifice fly for the 8-0 lead.
"It feels really good to have big innings like that," Bell said. "All year, we've had guys on and kind of struggled getting that big time hit. There's no really better feeling than coming together as an offense and creating those big innings, the three-spot and the five-spot."
Bell matched his career-high with four RBIs and tallied three hits on the game. Jordan also had three hits with two RBIs, while Humeniuk extended his on-base streak to 23 games when he reached on an error in the seventh inning.
In game one, UTA took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Josh Minjarez scored on a double play. ULM answered in the bottom half of the inning with Braeden Barrett's RBI single scoring Humeniuk.
The Mavericks went right back on top in the third inning when Connor Aube scored on a fielder's choice by Anthony Dominguez. The Warhawks had several chances to tie or take the lead throughout the game, putting two runners on base in fourth, fifth and sixth innings, and stranding the potential tying run at third base in the bottom of the eighth inning. UTA blew the game open with an eight-run top of the ninth. ULM stranded 12 runners on base in the opening game.
"Very disappointing, especially from some of our older guys, with some simple things," Federico said of the first game. "Trying to get a bunt down or trying to read a dirt ball the right way, or just put a ball in play, the infield is playing back, or the infield is in, let's try to get a ball elevated into the outfield. We didn't do it. We had too many opportunities, but we gave that game away in a lot of ways. It could've easily been tied many times. It's sometimes just the little things that you have to do, moving a runner over or getting a bunt down. That's all we had to do."
Trey Jeans (3-7) took the loss, giving up two runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts over five innings.
"I was proud of Jeans to get us a little bit deep in there, even though his pitch count got elevated," Federico said. "He's gone four straight starts being over 100 pitches. He got a little tired. Our guys have been studying and doing so many things. I think some of them were a little bit tired from that standpoint."
Bell had two hits in the opener, along with Barrett and Humeniuk.
The Warhawks and Mavericks are set to wrap up the series at 5 p.m. Saturday at Warhawk Field. For tickets, call (318) 342-HAWK or visit ULMWarhawks.com. Links to live video, audio and stats are available at ULMWarhawks.com.
