ULM Warhawks

MONROE, La. - The ULM Warhawks are back at Warhawk Field for the third consecutive weekend to open the 2020 season, hosting Illinois State for a three-game series. The two teams will meet at 4 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

The Warhawks moved to 7-1 on the season with a mid-week sweep of Southeastern Louisiana. ULM won Tuesday's game, 8-4, before using an historic 19-run fourth inning to take Wednesday's game, 23-4, in five innings. The 7-1 start is the best to open a season since 2001, when the Warhawks began the year 7-0 before dropping their eighth game. The 2000 team, which won the Southland Conference and reached the NCAA Tournament, opened 10-1.

ULM's 19-run fourth inning on Wednesday night broke records and nearly caught several others. It is the most runs scored by ULM in a single inning in school history. The NCAA Division I record for a single inning is 21 runs, set by Wichita State and Penn. The Division I record for runs in the fourth inning is 20. The Warhawks drew 12 bases on balls in the inning, setting a new Division I record. ULM also sent 25 men to the plate in the inning, one shy of the Division I record. ULM scored 19 runs on just five hits in the inning. Danny DeSimone and Andrew Beesley each hit a grand slam in the inning, while Ryan Humeniuk had a solo home run.
Friday's game marks the first-ever meeting between the Warhawks and Illinois State.

ULM head coach Michael Federico is in his third season with the Warhawks. He led the team to an 11-win improvement in his first season, and then a four-win improvement in his second season. He is 57-63 overall as the head coach at ULM. Federico has never met the Redbirds.

Illinois State is 2-5 to open the season. The Redbirds opened the season with a 1-2 weekend at Little Rock, salvaging the Sunday game, 4-2. Last weekend at No. 23 Oklahoma, Illinois State dropped the first three games of the four game series before salvaging the final game of the series on Sunday, 7-5. Illinois State finished 36-26 last season, advancing to the NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection, and fell in the finals of the Louisville regional to the host Cardinals.

Illinois State head coach Steve Holm is in his second season with the Redbirds, amassing a 38-31 record. Holm led the Redbirds to a share of the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title in his first season and two wins in the NCAA regional at Louisville. Holm was previously the pitching coach at Purdue and served as an assistant at Sacramento State. Holm played professionally for the San Francisco Giants and Minnesota Twins. 

LEADING OFF

Senior pitcher Ty Barnes followed up his strong opening night performance with his second combined one-hitter of the season on Friday against Grambling State. Barnes retired the first 14 hitters he faced, and carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Barnes tossed seven shutout innings, giving up just one hit with no walks and a career-high eight strikeouts. He is one of four qualifying pitchers in the Sun Belt Conference with a 0.00 ERA, and is joined by Arkansas State's Chandler Coates (14.0) and Troy's Levi Thomas (11.0) as the only three pitchers in the Sun Belt to throw more than 10 innings this season without allowing an earned run. Barnes ranks second in the Sun Belt in opposing batting average at .050, and ranks seventh nationally and seventh in the Sun Belt in hits allowed per nine innings at 1.38.

Senior catcher Logan Wurm continues his strong start to the season. Wurm leads the Warhawks with a .444 batting average, going 8-for-18 with seven RBIs and three runs scored. Wurm finished 2-for-4 Tuesday with two RBIs vs. Southeastern Louisiana. He had a nine-game hitting streak snapped on Saturday vs. Grambling State, but has now hit safely in four of the five games he has started in 2020.

Senior outfielder Ryan Humeniuk is right on Wurm's heels for the team lead in batting average. Humeniuk is batting .424, going 14-for-33 with two doubles, a triple, a home run, 11 RBIs, and 12 runs scored. Humeniuk was 0-for-5 at the plate Tuesday vs. Southeastern, but bounced back with a 3-for-3 day on Wedneday with his first home run of the year, a solo shot. Humeniuk has four multi-hit games this season, with a pair of three-hit games and his first career four-hit game on Sunday vs. Grambling State.

Senior utility player Andrew Beesley has found his groove at the plate. Beesley was hitting 1-for-12 through the first five games of the season, but has now added seven hits over the last three games, jumping his batting average from .083 to .364. Beesley has three consecutive multi-hit games, picking up three hits Sunday vs. Grambling, two hits Tuesday vs. Southeastern, and two more hits Wednesday vs. Southeastern, including a grand slam and six RBIs. Beesley is 8-for-22 at the plate with a double, triple, home run, eight RBIs and 13 runs scored, which is second in the Sun Belt and eighth in Division I. Beesley has also drawn at least one walk in seven of eight games this season. Beesley has drawn 11 walks and been hit by a pitch three times, giving him an on-base percentage of .611.

Junior first baseman Danny DeSimone hit his third home run of the season and second grand slam in Wednesday's win over Southeastern. DeSimone picked up four more RBIs, and leads the team with 15 RBIs, which ranks second in the Sun Belt in seventh in Division I. DeSimone is hitting .310 this season, going 9-for-29 with two doubles, three home runs and eight runs scored. DeSimone has a .690 slugging percentage on the season.

Senior relief pitcher Landon Longsworth has made three appearances out of the bullpen, giving up just one run on seven hits with no walks and seven strikeouts over nine innings. Longsworth picked up his second save of the season on Tuesday night vs. Southeastern, throwing the final three innings without allowing a run or a hit while striking out one batter.

WARHAWK NOTES

RUN FACTORY
After scoring eight runs on Tuesday night and hitting the 23-run mark for the second time in three games on Wednesday night, ULM ranks second in NCAA Division I in scoring at 12.0 runs per game. ULM trails only Western Michigan. The Broncos are averaging 12.9 runs per game. The Warhawks have scored double-digit runs four times this season, plating 13 runs vs. Southeast Missouri (2/15/20), 15 vs. Grambling State (2/21/20), 23 vs. Grambling State (2/23/20) and 23 vs. Southeastern Louisiana (2/26/20). ULM ranks fifth nationally in runs scored with 96, and sits second in the Sun Belt Conference, trailing Troy at 97.

PETTY LARCENY
ULM has been aggressive on the basepaths early in 2020. The Warhawks are 22-of-24 on stolen base attempts as a team. ULM ranks sixth nationally and leads the Sun Belt in stolen bases (22) and stolen bases per game (2.8). ULM has swiped five more bases than any Sun Belt Conference opponent. 11 different Warhawks have at least one stolen base on the season, and five of those players have multiple stolen bases. Junior outfielder Trace Henry is tied for second in the Sun Belt with five steals. ULM swiped 19 bases in the weekend series vs. Grambling, taking eight bases on Friday night, four more on Saturday, and wrapped up the series on Sunday with seven more steals. 

PUTTING PRESSURE ON THE DEFENSE
ULM is one of the top teams in the Sun Belt Conference and Division I in getting runners on base. ULM leads the Sun Belt Conference and ranks seventh nationally in on base percentage at .461. ULM is also second in the Sun Belt and ninth nationally in base on balls with 55, second in the conference and 10th nationally in batting average at .328 and second in the Sun Belt and 18th nationally in hits with 86. The Warhawks also rank third in the Sun Belt in doubles with 14, hit by pitch with 14, home runs with eight and sacrifice bunts with six.

TRIPLE STACK
ULM is 16th in the nation and leads the Sun Belt in triples with four. ULM's triples come from four different players. The Warhawks smacked three of those triples in Sunday's win over Grambling, with Ryan Humeniuk, Trace Henry and Andrew Beesley reaching third base off a hit. Colby Deaville tripled in Saturday's win over Grambling.

QUICK OUT OF THE GATE
ULM has outscored its opponents 21-0 in the first inning this season. The Warhawks have scored in the first inning in six of the first eight games this season. ULM has outscored its opponents 7-2 in the second inning, adding up to a 28-2 advantage over the first two frames. ULM has scored first in its last seven games after falling behind to Southeast Missouri in the season opener.

THE RUNS KEEP ON COMING
The Warhawks scored in every inning of Sunday's game vs. Grambling, and scored multiple runs in seven of the eight innings in which they stepped to the plate. The 23 runs against the Tigers marks ULM's first 20-run performance since Feb. 24, 2018, when they defeated Northern Kentucky 21-9. It was the most runs scored by the Warhawks since they tallied 24 at Little Rock on April 3, 2009. Adding in the Warhawks' 15 runs in Friday's victory, and the seven runs in Saturday's come-from-behind win, ULM scored 45 runs over the three-game series, the most in a three-game series since scored 46 runs vs. Middle Tennessee from April 18-20, 2008.