NEW ORLEANS  - Wiley Cleland and Ryan Humeniuk hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning, the Warhawks collected 15 hits and Tyler Lien led a strong effort from ULM on the mound as the Warhawks salvaged the weekend series with a 7-2 win against New Orleans Sunday at Maestri Field.
 
"Every Sunday is very, very important, whether you're 2-0, 0-2 or 1-1," ULM head coach Michael Federico said. "It's always a big game. I was proud of the maturity of our guys. I thought we had a good night last night with food and rest and all that stuff, and I thought they came out and were focused."
 
Eight of the nine Warhawks (2-2 overall) that stepped to the plate had at least one hit, while six Warhawks had multiple hits, led by three for Logan Wurm. Seven different Warhawks collected an RBI. Eight of ULM's 15 hits went for extra bases. Mason Holt, Trace Henry, Wurm, Grant Schulz and Colby Deaville all doubled while Travis Washburn tripled in addition to Cleland and Humeniuk's blasts.
 
"I think we played hard from the offensive side on Friday and we stressed a little bit yesterday and tried to do too much," Cleland said. "I feel like we got our approaches back simple and did our jobs today."
 
"Yesterday kind of woke us up a little bit," Washburn said. "I think we came out today with the right mindset to get it going."
 
UNO (4-3) was held to eight hits, with Kasten Furr collecting a pair for the Privateers.
 
Tyler Lien (1-0) earned his first win of 2021 on the hill. Lien tossed five innings in the start, giving up two runs on six hits with a walk and a strikeout.
 
"Tyler did a great job of giving us a quality start," Federico said. "We didn't have that the first two days, so we needed that."
 
"Honestly, I didn't feel great today, but I came out and just tried to give my best and give us a good start," Lien said. "We needed it today. I knew I had to go out there and give it a shot."
 
Steve Owings (1 2/3 innings), Cole Martin (1 1/3 innings) and Reid Goleman (one inning) pitched shutout baseball out of the bullpen. Martin and Goleman did not allow a hit in their time on the mound.
 
"Steve did what he was supposed to do," Federico said. "We had it drawn up that we were going to bring Cole Martin to face the lefty and give us four outs if possible. I'm really proud of Cole Martin. He had surgery and missed the whole year. That's the first time he's thrown in a game since 2019. I'm proud of the relentless effort that he's had to do to get back out there. Goleman got the double play ball to finish the game, which was awesome."
 
Bailey Holstein (0-1) suffered the loss for UNO, giving up four runs on eight hits with four strikeouts in five innings.
 
ULM struck first in the top of the second inning. With Ryan Humeniuk on first after a single, Wurm executed on the hit-and-run, moving Humeniuk over to third base. Schulz followed with a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt on the first base line, allowing Humeniuk to score for the 1-0 lead.
 
The Warhawks extended the lead in the fourth inning as Cleland and Humeniuk opened the frame with back-to-back homers. Later in the inning, Washburn singled with two outs and scored on Deaville's RBI double for the 4-0 advantage.
 
UNO got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Pearce Howard hit a solo home run to right field. They added another run in the fifth when Salo Iza hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Jackson Murphy to cut the gap to 4-2.
 
ULM answered back with two runs in the top of the sixth, as Washburn's RBI triple scored Schulz and Trace Henry's sacrifice fly brought home Washburn to expand the lead to 6-2.
 
The Warhawks added an insurance run in the top of the ninth as Wurm's RBI single scored Cleland to go ahead 7-2.
 
"We won the hit column the entire weekend," Federico said. "But we had more quality at bats today and did some simple things. We had some offensive flow going a little bit. That's what we have to do to be a relentless offense."
 
ULM returns to Warhawk Field for a five-game homestand starting Tuesday with Grambling State. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. For tickets, call 318-342-HAWK or visit ULMWarhawks.com. Links to live audio and stats are available on the schedule page at ULMWarhawks.com.