JONESBORO, Ark. – Tyler Lien fired six innings, allowing just two runs, one earned, while the ULM offense made a five-run third inning stand up in a 6-4 series-clinching win over Arkansas State at Tomlinson Stadium.
ULM (26-24 overall, 11-13 Sun Belt Conference) won its sixth consecutive weekend series to close the regular season and claimed third place in the Sun Belt's West Division after Georgia State defeated Little Rock, 11-10, pushing ULM into a tie with the Trojans. ULM won the tiebreaker by virtue of its series win over Little Rock on April 17-19.
For Lien (4-2), it was a second consecutive solid start on the mound, turning in a quality start for the win, striking out four and walking one over six innings.
"I was just trusting what (ULM head coach
Michael Federico) called for me," Lien said. "I was working a lot of glove side fastball. I've been working on that a lot these past few weeks. It's been working out for me alright."
"He was throwing three pitches for strikes," Federico said. "Sometimes our starters are not throwing three pitches for strikes and that's why we're just trying to shorten it up. He's finally getting his changeup going with that and he's got a little bit of sink on the fastball to create some soft contact. Today his slider was working really well with some of those lefties."
With Lien rolling on the mound, the Warhawks put together one big inning to grab the lead. ULM posted five runs in the third inning with the help of three A-State errors.
Colby Deaville led off with a bunt single and moved to third on a throwing error.
Trace Henry followed with an RBI double and advanced to third on an overthrow at second base. After
Mason Holt walked,
Andrew Beesley hit a sacrifice fly to left for the 2-0 lead.
Chris Noble laced an RBI single to right to plate Holt for the 3-0 advantage.
Ryan Humeniuk followed with a single to put runners on the corners with just one out. After Humeniuk stole second base,
Grant Schulz hit a 2-RBI single to push the lead to 5-0.
"When we're gelling, it's hard to stop us," Schulz said. "You never know what's going to happen. You might hit a ball over the fence. You might put a bunt down the line and end up at second. We're doing the little things right, keeping our composure and playing the game how we know how to play."
A-State picked up a 2-run home run from Drew Tipton in the bottom of the third. The two sides then remained scoreless until the seventh inning when Henry doubled, stole third and scored on a wild pitch. The Red Wolves answered with a 2-RBI double by Ben Klutts in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-4.
A-State threatened again in the eighth inning as Jaylon Deshazier singled to open the inning and Sky-Lar Culver was hit by a pitch. Federico turned to
Carson Orton out of the bullpen, who picked up a strike out, fly out and ground out to end the threat.
"He's our back-end guy and guys trust him and believe in him," Federico said of Orton. "What a situation he got out of with those runners being on right there. He was fearless. He's very comfortable in that role."
Tipton opened the bottom of the ninth with a lead off single and worked his way to third with one out before Orton got Klutts to line out to Washburn and struck out Tyler Duncan to end the game with his ninth save and second in as many days.
For the Warhawks, the win marked the end of a strong second half of the season. ULM was 11-18 overall and 3-10 in the Sun Belt Conference after a series-opening loss to Little Rock on April 17. Since then, the Warhawks have won 15 of 21 games and went 8-3 in the SBC.
"The guys have bought into the things that we, the coaches, have asked, whether it's been the starters just managing the game early and getting to our bullpen or whether it's the little stuff," Federico said. "There's been some buy-in. Sometimes it takes a little while to get to that point. It took us a little while to get into a flow and now the regular season is over with and it's postseason time. This is what we play for. This is what it comes down to. We knew that the Sun Belt tournament was going to be an interesting one. I'm super proud of our guys for putting ourselves in a situation of winning the last weekend when a lot was at stake."
The Sun Belt Conference is slated to release the official tournament schedule Saturday evening. The Warhawks are scheduled to open Sun Belt Conference Championship play at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery. Links to live video, audio and stats will be available on the baseball schedule page at ULMWarhawks.com.
