THIBODAUX, La. – Sophomore Landon Cato hit two home runs, sophomore Chase DeJean belted his first career homer, and ULM built a large lead before holding off a furious Nicholls rally to defeat the Colonels, 10-8, Friday afternoon at Ben Meyer Diamond at Ray E. Didier Field.
 
The Warhawks (3-9 overall) used a six-run third inning to break the game open, and eventually led 9-0, before a five-run sixth inning got Nicholls (8-7) back in the game. The Colonels stranded the potential tying run on second base and the winning run on first base to end the game.
 
"It's huge to get a win, that's the most important thing," ULM head coach Michael Federico said. "Sometimes it's ugly, sometimes it's beautiful. We got off to an amazing start. (Sophomore starting pitcher Cam) Barlow was having some quick innings. Offensively, I was just so proud of our guys. We had a lot of big hits to the backside of the field, which is something we've been really stressing to our guys and getting them to grasp. From (senior Trace) Henry's triple to (senior) Mason (Holt's) double, let alone the home runs that we hit, we had a lot of hits to the backside of the field, which was impressive for us."
 
ULM scored a run in the second when sophomore Caleb Sterling hit a sacrifice fly following senior Trace Henry's triple to go ahead 1-0.
 
The first six batters that stepped to the plate in the third inning for the Warhawks came around to score. Senior Grant Schulz's RBI single scored senior Mason Holt to push the lead to 2-0. Cato then hit his first homer of the day, a 3-run shot to right field, to extend the lead to 5-0.
 
"I'm seeing the baseball really well, letting the ball get deep and taking advantage of the right side of the field," Cato said. "The second pitch he threw, he hung one and I took it. I glanced at the dugout and got some grimaces. I can't miss it twice. Sure enough, he threw it again and there it was."
 
Sterling added an RBI single later in the inning to bring home Henry and sophomore Carson Jones extended his RBI streak to five games with a single to score Sterling for the 7-0 advantage.
 
ULM added a run in the fourth when Cato's RBI groundout scored Cupit. Cato then hit a solo home run on the first pitch of the sixth inning to push the lead to 9-0, marking his fourth home run in the last four games. Cato said he's adjusted his approach at the plate.
 
"I've just dumbed it down," Cato said. "I'm taking a two-strike approach while still looking for the pitch that I want to hit. I'm just simplifying everything and really focusing on seeing the ball a long time and letting it get deep."
 
Meanwhile, Barlow was cruising on the mound, firing five shutout innings before walking the first two batters of the sixth inning. After allowing an RBI single to Basiel Williams, Federico turned to his bullpen.
 
"Some of those innings are hard when you're a pitcher and you're sitting in the dugout for a long time. Cam had two innings where he was in there for probably over 20 minutes. It makes it challenging. We were trying to stretch him out a little bit. His pitch count was down. He got a little tired last week, so I felt like we needed to get him out there again."
Barlow (1-1) earned his first win of the season, throwing five-plus innings, allowing three runs on three hits with five walks and one strikeout.
 
Sophomore Nicholas Judice came out of the bullpen and got Austin Cain to pop up to Sterling at catcher. He then had Lucas Hatch hit a ground ball to third base. DeJean touched the bag at third, but Schulz couldn't come up with the ball at first base to complete a potential inning-ending double play. Nicholls followed with back-to-to-back doubles by Garrett Felix and Parker Coddou to get within 9-4. After a throwing error cut the gap to 9-5 and a walk extended the inning, Judice escaped the jam with a strikeout.
 
DeJean answered for ULM to start the top of the seventh inning, belting a solo home run over the batter's eye in center field for the 10-5 lead.
 
"I really had to dumb (my approach) down a little bit," DeJean said. "I started off a little slow, so I got into that 2-0 count and took two fastballs down. I didn't do too much, put a good swing on it, and good things happen."
 
Judice settled in on the mound and picked up two shutout innings to take a 10-5 lead to the ninth inning. He allowed four runs, three earned, on three hits with four strikeouts and three walks.
 
"The two-seam is always a plus pitch," Judice said. "The slider felt really good today. That was what I was keying on."
 
In the bottom of the ninth, Judice hit Xane Washington with a pitch and walked Nick Fields to begin the inning. Sophomore Jackie Robinson came out of the bullpen and got Kody O'Connor to fly out to right and struck out Williams to get ULM within an out of the win. However, he walked Cain, surrendered a 2-RBI single to Hunter LeBlanc and walked Felix to load the bases for Coddou. After sophomore Carson Orton came on out of the bullpen, an error allowed Coddou to reach safely and cut the lead to 10-8. With the potential tying run on second and the potential winning run on first, Orton got Dane Simon to ground out to Jones at second base to end the game and give Orton his first save of the season.
 
"We've got to play catch better," Federico said. "We had some, what I call, routine plays, and we didn't make them. It's frustrating. I don't know how to coach that. I'm struggling with that. We've got to figure it out and can't let it hurt us. I'm proud that we won, but I'm disappointed in some of the effort with it all."
 
Holt led ULM with three hits, while Cato had the two homers and five RBIs. All nine Warhawks that stepped to the plate recorded at least one hit, and six players had at least two hits.
 
Felix entered the game in the fifth inning for Nicholls and led the team with three hits, including two doubles, with two RBIs.
 
The series continues with first pitch at 1 p.m. Saturday.