MONROE, La. - The ULM baseball team plays its final tune-up before Sun Belt Conference play, entertaining I-20 rival Louisiana Tech at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Warhawk Field. ULM has won three of its last four games while LA Tech has won its last four games.
Tuesday's game will stream on ESPN+ and is also available on 105.7 FM/540 AM KMLB, KMLB.com and the TuneIn app, with
Mike Hammett on the call for both broadcasts. A link to live stats is available on the baseball schedule page at ULMWarhawks.com.
Tuesday's game is the 185th meeting between ULM and LA Tech, with the Bulldogs leading the series, 107-77. Louisiana Tech won last year's meeting in Monroe, 10-3, and the game in Ruston, 9-7. ULM last defeated LA Tech, 9-4, on March 26, 2019, in Ruston. The Warhawks last defeated the Bulldogs at Warhawk Field, 12-9, on May 16, 2007.
ULM (4-10 overall) has won three of its last four games. The Warhawks snapped a nine-game losing streak last Wednesday with a 6-2 win over Northwestern State at Warhawk Field. ULM opened the weekend series at Nicholls with a 10-8 win on Friday. After dropping Saturday's contest to the Colonels, 5-2, the Warhawks bounced back with a 2-1 win on Sunday. The Warhawks are hitting .247 as a team with 55 RBIs, while the pitching staff has a 5.50 ERA.
ULM head coach
Michael Federico is in his fifth season with the Warhawks. After leading the club to an 11-win improvement in his first year and a two-win improvement in his second year, he led the Warhawks to their first .500-or-better season since 2012 with a 26-26 mark in 2021 as ULM finished third in the Sun Belt Conference West Division. Federico is 1-5 against Louisiana Tech.
Louisiana Tech (11-5 overall) has won four consecutive games and scored 12-or-more runs in three of the four contests. The Bulldogs defeated Southeastern, 13-1, last Wednesday. They opened the series with Houston Baptist with a 22-2 win on Friday before adding 12-3 and 6-0 wins on Saturday and Sunday respectively. LA Tech has won six of its last seven games after dropping both ends of a doubleheader to Tulane on Feb. 27.
LA Tech head coach Lane Burroughs is in his sixth season with the Bulldogs. In 2021, LA Tech hosted its first regional in program history and reached the Conference USA Championship game for the first time. The Bulldogs reached the Regional final before falling the NC State. He is 173-94 at LA Tech and 286-207 in his career after spending four seasons as the head coach at Northwestern State. He is 12-3 overall against ULM, including a 6-1 mark as head coach of LA Tech.
ULM CELEBRATES WARHAWK FIELD RENOVATIONS
ULM's Warhawk Field underwent major renovations in the 2021-22 offseason. The renovations at Warhawk Field included installation of DoublePlay Speed FieldTurf in the infield and DoublePlay Natural FieldTurf in the outfield, the home bullpen moved adjacent to the first base dugout, the visitor bullpen moved off of the field of play in the left field corner, brought fans closer to the action with foul territory walls moved closer to the foul lines and a new premium seating area, The Stadium Club, located behind home plate at field level. The ULM home locker room also saw upgrades in the process. Last season, the Warhawk baseball weight room was completed, immediately adjacent to the team's locker room.
CATO FLASHES POWER POTENTIAL
ULM sophomore
Landon Cato has stepped up to help the Warhawk offense over the past week. The Birmingham, Alabama, native hit .375 (6-for-16) over the past four games with three home runs, eight RBIs, four runs scored and two walks.
Cato hit a 3-run home run last Wednesday against Northwestern State, expanding ULM's lead to 4-0 in the fifth inning. On Friday at Nicholls, Cato hit a pair of home runs. He started with a 3-run blast to right-center field as part of ULM's 6-run third inning. He later added a solo home run to lead off the sixth inning, expanding ULM's lead to 9-0. After adding an RBI groundout, Cato finished 2-for-5 in the game with five RBIs. He also picked up a single in Sunday's 2-1 win at Nicholls.
Overall, Cato is hitting .294 (10-for-34) on the season with two doubles, four home runs, a team-best 10 RBIs and eight runs scored. He has also walked five times.
DEAVILLE PROVIDES OFFENSIVE BOOST
Senior
Colby Deaville entered the starting lineup on Saturday, March 5, against New Orleans and provided an immediate boost to the ULM offense. Deaville, who started 31 games at shortstop in 2021, is leading the team with a .440 (11-for-25) batting average, including three doubles, one home runs, six RBIs and six runs scored while going 4-for-5 on stolen base attempts.
He has hit safely in five of six games since rejoining the starting lineup, including four multi-hit games. He had career highs with four hits and three RBIs to go with two doubles, two runs scored, a walk and a steal on March 5 vs. UNO. He added two hits in the series finale vs. the Privateers on March 6. Last Wednesday vs. Northwestern State, he tacked on two hits with a double, RBI and run scored. He opened the series at Nicholls on Friday going 1-for-4 with a walk. On Saturday, he had two hits, including a home run, with an RBI, a run scored and two stolen bases. On Sunday at Nicholls, he did not have a hit, but was hit by a pitch and scored from first base on an RBI single by
Caleb Sterling to give ULM a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning.
STERLING HEATING UP BEHIND THE DISH
Sophomore
Caleb Sterling has started nine of the first 14 games at catcher and has played in 11 contests. He has increased his offensive production during ULM's 3-1 week. He hit .385 at the plate last week (5-for-13) with three RBIs and two runs scored.
After posting two hits at Northwestern State, he added two more hits with two RBIs and a run scored with a stolen base in Friday's series opener at Nicholls. He closed the series on Sunday with a crucial RBI single in the seventh inning, scoring
Colby Deaville from first base for the 1-0 lead.
Sterling is hitting .265 on the season (9-for-34) with two doubles, four RBIs, three runs scored and three walks.
SOUTHPAW RELIEF
ULM's two left-handed relief options have stepped up when called upon in 2022.
Sophomore
Jackie Robinson has appeared in three games, pitching 2 1/3 innings, allowing an unearned run on two hits with a strikeout. He pitched a scoreless inning at Ole Miss on March 1, allowing a hit with a walk. Against New Orleans on March 6, he threw 2/3 of a scoreless inning. On Friday at Nicholls, he allowed an unearned run on one hit with two walks and a strikeout.
Redshirt freshman
Adam Tubbs has appeared in four games, pitching two innings. He threw a scoreless inning on Saturday at Nicholls, allowing a hit with a strikeout. He also made scoreless outings against Missouri on Feb. 25 and Ole Miss on March 2.
SCHULZ NAMED PRESEASON ALL-SUN BELT CONFERENCE BY PERFECT GAME
ULM senior third baseman
Grant Schulz was selected to Perfect Game's Sun Belt Conference Preseason Team at designated hitter.
Schulz led the Warhawks with a .333 batting average in 2021, which ranked fifth in the Sun Belt Conference. He had 10 doubles, two triples, four home runs, 30 RBIs, 22 runs scored and 12 walks while playing in 42 games with 35 starts on the season. Schulz was a big part of ULM's late-season surge. Schulz hit a team-best .440 (33-for-75) from April 18 to May 28 with eight doubles, two triples, three home runs, 20 RBIs, 18 runs scored, five walks and two stolen bases. In that span, Schulz raised his batting average from .185 to lead the team at .333. He hit safely in nine of the last 10 games with six multi-hit games in that stretch.
Schulz has hit safely in each of the last four games, including three multi-hit games. He has two hits in a game six times this season. He leads the team in hits (17) and doubles (four).
LOCAL CONNECTIONS
The 2022 ULM roster features seven players from inside Ouachita Parish. The Warhawks have four players who attended West Monroe High School (senior
Ryan Cupit, sophomore
Chase DeJean and
Carson Jones and freshman
Lane Little), two from Sterlington High School (redshirt freshman
Adam Tubbs and true freshman
William Perkins) and one from Ouachita Parish High School (true freshman
Zach Shaw). Overall, the Warhawks have 17 players hailing from the state of Louisiana.
O CANADA!
The 2021 ULM baseball roster features two players from Canada: pitcher
Tylor Jans (Edmonton, Alberta) and pitcher
Lucas Wepf (Brampton, Ontario).
