BATON ROUGE, La. – Eight LSU pitchers combined on a shutout as the Tigers blanked ULM, 5-0, Tuesday evening at Alex Box Stadium.
The Warhawks had six of nine leadoff batters reach base in the game, but couldn't find the right combination to bring a runner home.
Ryan Humeniuk led off the game with a single to centerfield, but was thrown out at second base trying to advance on a wild pitch. In the second inning,
Trace Henry singled back through the middle with two outs and
Travis Washburn followed with a hustle double on a bloop hit to shallow center. However, a sharp grounder by
Wiley Cleland right to shortstop Jordan Thompson ended the threat.
LSU struck first in the bottom of the third inning. Cade Doughty singled with two outs to score Tre' Morgan for the 1-0 lead.
The Tigers doubled the lead in the fourth inning when Alex Milazzo singled with two outs to plate Giovanni DiGiacomo to double the lead to 2-0.
ULM had another scoring chance in the fifth inning as Cleland singled and
Colby Deaville picked up one of his three walks with one out. However, LSU's Alex Brady came on to retire Humeniuk and
Mason Holt to retire the side.
LSU added to the lead in the bottom of the fifth when Gavin Dugas brought home Dylan Crews on an RBI single for a 3-0 advantage.
In the sixth inning,
Andrew Beesley led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on
Britt McKay's ground out. With two outs,
Trace Henry singled to right field, but Beesley was caught in a run down between third base and home before he was tagged out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, LSU picked up a single by Thompson and back-to-back bunt singles by DiGiacomo and Drew Bianco to load the bases. Milazzo grounded into a fielder's choice to drive home Thompson, but a throwing error on the attempt to turn the double play allowed DiGiacomo to sprint home for the 5-0 lead.
Washburn led off the seventh inning with another hustle double, hooking the ball inside the first base bag and sending it to the LSU bullpen to put a runner in scoring position. However, Humeniuk would later line into a double play as Deaville was doubled off of first to end the threat.
The Warhawks made a push in the top of the ninth inning thanks to three bases on balls, but stranded the bases loaded to end the game.
Henry and Washburn led the Warhawks with two hits each as ULM stranded 11 runners on base. DiGiacomo led LSU with three hits.
Tyler Lien (3-2) suffered the loss for ULM, giving up a run on four hits with three strikeouts over three innings in the start. Will Hellmers (6-1) picked up the win for LSU in a designated short start, tossing three innings with no runs on three hits with one strikeout.
ULM plays its fifth game in as many days with a 6 p.m. contest vs. Jackson State Wednesday at Warhawk Field. Links to live audio and stats are available at ULMWarhawks.com.
