ULM (10-2 overall) at McNeese State (9-4 overall)
Joe Miller Ballpark | Lake Charles, La.
Friday, 6 p.m. | Ty Barnes, RHP (2-1, 1.89 ERA) vs. Will Dion, LHP (2-1, 4.86 ERA) | Watch | Radio: 105.7 FM/540 AM KMLB or Listen Online | Live Stats
Saturday, 6 p.m. | Cam Barlow, LHP (1-0, 8.53 ERA) vs. TBA | Watch | Radio: 105.7 FM/540 AM KMLB or Listen Online | Live Stats
Sunday, 1 p.m. | Kayleb Sanderson (0-1, 8.71) vs. TBA | Watch | Radio: 105.7 FM/540 AM KMLB or Listen Online | Live Stats
ULM Game Notes
LAKE CHARLES, La. - The ULM Warhawks head on the road for the first time in 2020, heading across the state of Louisiana to visit McNeese State. The two teams will play at 6 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at Joe Miller Ballpark.
ULM picked up its 10th win of the season and moved to 10-2 overall with a 2-0 win over Jackson State on Tuesday night at Warhawk Field, capping a 12-game season-opening homestand. It marks the fastest a Warhawk team has reached 10 wins since 2000. Redshirt junior pitcher
Tyler Lien threw 5 1/3 shutout innings in the start, and was followed by seniors
Dylan Marsh (2/3 of an inning) and
Landon Longsworth (three innings) to combine on ULM's second shutout of the season (15-0 vs. Grambling on Feb. 21).
Friday's game marks the 194th all-time meeting between the Warhawks and Cowboys, making it the second-most played rivalry in ULM baseball history, behind only Northwestern State at 224 meetings. Louisiana Tech is the third most-often played rival at 182 games.
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 60-64 overall as the head coach at ULM. Federico is 2-3 against McNeese.
McNeese State is 9-4 on the season. The Cowboys rolled to a sweep on opening weekend over Mississippi Valley State, taking four games from the Delta Devils by a combined 58-3 score. At the Mardi Gras Tournament in Thibodaux, McNeese beat Little Rock 14-2 in seven innings before dropping a pair of games to host Nicholls State, 6-5, and 4-3. Last weekend, the Cowboys hosted the Lake Area Classic, sweeping Valparaiso 4-2 and 8-3, and split a pair of blowouts with Southern Miss, losing 10-0 and winning 18-8. The Cowboys have split their two mid-week games, losing 7-4 to Louisiana Tech and beating Missouri 12-4.
Entering the weekend, the Cowboys rank third in NCAA Division I in batting average at .341 and are sixth in scoring at 9.7 runs per game.
McNeese head coach Justin Hill is in his seventh season with the Cowboys. The West Monroe native and former ULM assistant coach guided the Cowboys to the Southland Conference regular season championship in 2017 and was chosen as the Southland Conference Coach of the Year. In 2019, Hill led the Cowboys to the Southland Conference Tournament championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Hill has led the Cowboys to five 30-plus win seasons. He served as ULM's 2012 NCAA Regional team under head coach Jeff Schexnaider. Hill is 6-5 against ULM.
LEADING OFF
Senior pitcher
Ty Barnes is slated to make his fourth Friday night start of the 2020 season. Barnes has worked at least six innings in each of his first three starts of the season, and is 2-1 with a 1.89 ERA. Against Southeast Missouri, Barnes carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and combined on a one-hitter with senior
Conner Deeds in the 5-1 ULM victory. Against Grambling State, Barnes retired the first 14 batters he faced and carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning before combining on another one-hitter in the 15-0 ULM victory. Last week against Illinois State, Barnes worked with traffic on the bases for the first time, giving up six runs, four earned, on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
Redshirt freshman
Cam Barlow will make his second Saturday start of the season. Barlow was solid in his debut against Southeast Missouri on Feb. 15, giving up a run on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts while earning the win over four innings in a designated short start. Barlow was a late scratch from a scheduled start vs. Grambling State due to illness, and made a mid-week start against Southeastern Louisiana, giving up five runs on three hits in just 2 1/3 innings in a no-decision.
Senior
Kayleb Sanderson is scheduled to make his fourth start of the season on Sunday in Lake Charles. Sanderson pitched into the fifth inning in his first two starts against Southeast Missouri and Grambling State, but did not escape the second inning in last Saturday's 26-8 win over Illinois State. Sanderson has nine strikeouts to four walks over 10 1/3 innings this season.
Redshirt junior
Brock Figueroa and seniors
Landon Longsworth and
Conner Deeds are the top options out of the bullpen for ULM. Figueroa is 1-0 out of the bullpen, tossing seven shutout innings with three hits, three walks and five strikeouts over three appearances. Longsworth has made five appearances and tallied four saves, giving up two runs on eight hits over 13 innings with no walks and 11 strikeouts. Deeds has made two relief appearances and one emergency spot start, giving up four runs, two earned, on four hits with two walks and nine strikeouts over nine innings.
Senior outfielder
Ryan Humeniuk leads the Warhawks with a .431 batting average through 12 games this season. Humeniuk has already picked up 22 hits on the campaign, including two doubles, one triple and three home runs. He has 13 RBIs and is tied for the team lead with 17 runs scored on the year. Humeniuk ranks 12th nationally and second in the Sun Belt in hits, while he is tied with teammates
Mason Holt and
Trace Henry for 12th nationally and first in the Sun Belt in runs scored. Humeniuk's four steals rank in a tie for third on the team, but ninth in the Sun Belt. Humeniuk has six multi-hit games, including a career-high six hits vs. Illinois State on Feb. 29.
Senior utility player
Andrew Beesley is one of the hottest players in the Sun Belt Conference entering this weekend's series at McNeese. Beesley is riding a seven-game hitting streak, going 14-for-27 with two doubles, a triple, a grand slam, 12 RBIs, 10 runs scored, nine walks and two steals. Beesley has five multi-hit games over the last seven contests, inclduing a six RBI game vs. Southeastern Louisiana on Feb. 26 and four RBIs against Illinois State on Feb. 29. Beesley leads the Sun Belt in on base percentage at .571 and is tied for the conference lead in walks with 13.
Junior catcher
Logan Wurm has hit safely in seven of nine games this season, and has four multi-hit games. Wurm, who had a nine-game hitting streak snapped against Grambling State on Feb. 22, picked back up where he left off by hitting safely in the next three games. Wurm is fourth on the team with a .379 batting average, collecting 11 hits with one double, 10 RBIs, five runs and one walk. Wurm also has four multi-RBI games this year, driving in a season-best three runs vs. Illinois State on Feb. 29.
Junior shortstop
Colby Deaville is hitting for power early in the season. Out of Deaville's 10 hits, he has two doubles, two triples and two home runs. Deaville leads the Warhawks with a slugging percentage of .846. Deaville tripled in Saturday's game vs. Illinois State and hit a double in Sunday's series finale vs. the Redbirds.
Junior first baseman
Danny DeSimone hit his team and conference-leading fourth home run of the season in Sunday's win over Illinois State. DeSimone had a seven-game hitting streak snapped on Tuesday night. He picked up at least one RBI in six of those contests. DeSimone ranks 16th nationally and leads the Sun Belt with 18 RBIs on the season. He has five multi-RBI games this year.
Junior outfielder
Mason Holt had a pair of three hit games in the Illinois State series, and enters the McNeese series with a .356 batting average on the year. Holt has three doubles, two home runs, 10 RBIs, 17 runs scored, six walks and six stolen bases. Holt is tied with Humeniuk and Henry to lead the Sun Belt in runs scored.
Junior outfielder
Trace Henry has led off all 12 games for ULM. Henry had a career-high five hits and matched his career-high with three RBIs on Saturday against Illinois State. Henry is hitting .327 on the season with two doubles, a triple, 12 RBIs, 17 runs scored, eight walks and seven stolen bases. Henry is tied with Holt and Humeniuk to lead the Sun Belt in runs scored. He ranks 27th nationally and second in the Sun Belt with his seven stolen bases.
WARHAWKS NOTES
BEESLEY NAMED SUN BELT CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
ULM senior utility player
Andrew Beesley was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 24-March 1, as announced Monday afternoon by the Sun Belt Conference. Beesley hit safely in all five games in the week for ULM, and had multiple hits in four of the five games. He was 10-for-20 at the plate with two doubles, a grand slam, 12 RBIs, six runs scored, five walks and a steal. He had an on base percentage of .615. Beesley opened the week with a pair of hits, including an RBI, run scored and two walks vs. Southeastern Louisiana on Feb. 25. The next day, Beesley added two more hits, including a double and a grand slam, while driving in six runs, scoring four times and walking twice against Southeastern. Over the weekend, Beesley had two hits and an RBI in Friday's series opener against Illinois State. On Saturday, Beesley tallied three more hits and four more RBIs while scoring and walking once. In the series finale on Sunday, Beesley picked up a first-inning double down the left field line to extend his season-best hitting streak to six games.
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 ranks second in NCAA Division I in on base percentage at .459. Only New Mexico State has had a better percentage of batters reaching base safely at .472. ULM also ranks fifth nationally in batting average at .338 and ninth in bases on balls with 78. ULM is drawing an average of 6.5 walks per game this season. ULM has also been hit by a pitch 17 times this year.
GRAND THEFT ON THE BASEPATHS
ULM has been aggressive on the basepaths early in 2020. The Warhawks are 35-of-41 on stolen base attempts as a team, and went 3-of-4 swiping bases on Tuesday vs. Jackson State. ULM leads the nation in stolen bases with 35, and ranks second in stolen bases per game at 2.9, trailing only Yale at 4.0. ULM has taken 12 more bases and attempted 15 more steals than any Sun Belt Conference opponent. 11 different Warhawks have at least one stolen base on the season, and eight of those players have multiple stolen bases. Junior outfielder
Trace Henry is second in the Sun Belt with seven stolen bases. The Warhawks stole a school-record 10 bases in Saturday's win over Illinois State. ULM swiped 19 bases in the series vs. Grambling, taking eight bases on Feb. 21, four more on Feb. 22, and wrapped up the series on Feb. 23 with seven more steals.
RUN FACTORY
After another week that saw the Warhawks top 20 runs in two games, ULM sits atop NCAA Division I in scoring at 11.7 runs per game. The Warhawks have scored 10 or more runs in five games, and have topped 20 runs three times this season. ULM scored over 20 runs three times in a five game span, starting with 23 runs vs. Grambling State on Feb. 23, 23 runs vs. Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday and 26 runs vs. Illinois State on Saturday.
TRIPLE STACK
ULM leads the Sun Belt in triples with five. ULM's triples come from four different players.
Colby Deaville is the only Warhawk with two triples, hitting one on each of the last two Saturdays. The Warhawks smacked three of their triples in the Feb. 23 win over Grambling, with
Ryan Humeniuk,
Trace Henry and
Andrew Beesley reaching third base off a hit.
BYE, BYE BASEBALL
ULM leads the Sun Belt Conference and ranks 22nd nationally in home runs with 14. The Warhawks won Sunday's game over Ilinois State on the strength of four solo home runs, with three coming in the third inning, including back-to-back blasts on consecutive pitches by
Danny DeSimone and
Ryan Humeniuk.
Grant Schulz hit his first home run of the season later in the inning, while
Mason Holt went deep for the second consecutive day in the fifth inning. DeSimone is tied for third in the Sun Belt Conference with four home runs, including a pair of grand slams, while Humeniuk is tied for ninth with three home runs.
CLEARING THE BASES
ULM leads the Sun Belt Conference with 108 RBIs on the season, nine ahead of Troy in second place.
Danny DeSimone leads the conference and ranks 16th nationally with 18 RBIs.
Andrew Beesley and
Ryan Humeniuk have 13 RBIs each to tie for fifth place in the Sun Belt, while
Trace Henry is tied for eighth with 12 RBIs.
SLUGGING THEIR WAY TO WINS
ULM leads the Sun Belt Conference and ranks eighth nationally in slugging percentage at .520. The Warhawks have two individuals ranked in the top 11 of the Sun Belt in slugging percentage.
Ryan Humeniuk is eighth at .686 and
Danny DeSimone is 11th at .614.
PUTTING OUT THE FIRES
Over the last four games, the ULM bullpen has pitched 20 1/3 out of 36 innings against Illinois State and Jackson State. The pen combined to allow just four runs on 10 hits with three walks and 17 strikeouts. On Friday night,
Conner Deeds threw three shutout and hitless innings to give the Warhawks a chance to rally in the loss to the Redbirds. On Saturday,
Bryson Wrobel calmed the waters, throwing two shut out innings with one hit and one strikeout, while
Justin Barton took over and followed with 3 2/3 innings with a run, two hits a walk and five strikeouts.
Lucas Wepf finished the game with a scoreless ninth inning. On Sunday,
Brock Figueroa tossed four scoreless innings with two hits, one walk and four strikeouts, and
Landon Longsworth earned his third save of the season, giving up just one run on one hit in the ninth inning with a pair of strikeouts. On Tuesday against Jackson State, ULM picked up 2/3 of an inning with a strikeout from
Dylan Marsh, and Longsworth picked up his fourth save with three scoreless innings with no walks and two strikeouts.
LIEN-ING ON PITCHING AND DEFENSE
With all the offensive accolades ULM has achieved early in 2020, the Warhawks had to rely on their pitching and defense in Tuesday's mid-week win over Jackson State. Redshirt junior starting pitcher
Tyler Lien, making his second start as a Warhawk, fired 5 1/3 shutout innings, giving up four hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
Dylan Marsh followed with 2/3 of an inning and a strikeout to get out of the sixth inning, and
Landon Longsworth closed the game with three scoreless and hitless innings with a pair of strikeouts for his fourth save. ULM had just four hits on the night offensively, but
Carson Klepzig's second-inning RBI double held up, as the Warhawks added a run in the seventh inning on a wild pitch for the 2-0 win to move to 3-0 in mid-week games.
