MONROE, La. - The ULM baseball team opens Sun Belt Conference play this weekend with a road trip to Coastal Carolina. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. EDT/3 p.m. CDT Friday, 2 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. CDT Saturday and 11 a.m. EDT/10 a.m. CDT Sunday at Springs Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina.
All three games of this weekend's series will stream on ESPN+. Each game can be heard on KMLB.com and the TuneIn app with Saturday's and Sunday's games hitting the airwaves on 105.7 FM/540 AM KMLB with
Mike Hammett on the call of all three games.
Friday's game is the 12th all-time meeting between the Warhawks and the Chanticleers, with Coastal Carolina having a perfect 11-0 record against ULM. The two teams last met in 2019, with CCU winning all five meetings. The Chanticleers swept the regular season series in Monroe, winning 13-3, 14-2 and 15-7. The two teams met again in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference Championship at Springs Brooks Stadium, with Coastal needing to defeat ULM twice to advance. The Chanticleers won 26-10 and 10-6 in a doubleheader in Conway. CCU swept the last series in Conway in 2018, winning 14-4, 11-4 and 17-16.
ULM (4-11 overall) dropped Tuesday's midweek matchup to I-20 rival Louisiana Tech, 8-4, at Warhawk Field. The Bulldogs scored five runs in the top of the first inning and didn't look back in their fourth consecutive win over ULM. The Warhawks had runners on base in all nine innings, but were only able to scratch single runs in the third, fifth, eighth and ninth innings. ULM is hitting .250 as a team with 59 RBIs, while the pitching staff has posted a 5.68 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 0-8 against Coastal Carolina.
Coastal Carolina (10-6) overall had its midweek game at NC State canceled due to rain on Wednesday. The Chanticleers won two-of-three games from Xavier last weekend at Springs Brooks Stadium, falling 9-5 on Friday night before sweeping a Sunday doubleheader, 6-4 and 8-4. CCU has won three of its last four games after getting swept at No. 21 North Carolina on March 4-6. CCU is hitting .269 as a team with 88 RBIs. The Chanticleer pitching staff has amassed a 3.98 ERA.
Coastal Carolina head coach Gary Gilmore is in his 27th season leading the Chanticleers. He was named 2016 National Coach of the Year by six different organizations after leading CCU to the national championship. He won his 1,000th game at Coastal Carolina in the regular season finale last year vs. Texas State. He has won 1,011 games at CCU and 1,264 in his 33-year head coaching career, which includes time at USC Aiken. He is 11-0 against ULM.
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 week of March 7-13 with three home runs, eight RBIs, four runs scored and two walks.
Cato hit a 3-run home run on March 9 against Northwestern State, expanding ULM's lead to 4-0 in the fifth inning. On March 11 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 the March 13 2-1 win at Nicholls.
Overall, Cato is hitting .270 (10-for-37) 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 .429 (12-for-28) batting average, including three doubles, one home run, six RBIs and six runs scored while going 4-for-5 on stolen base attempts.
He has hit safely in six of seven 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. On March 9 vs. Northwestern State, he tacked on two hits with a double, RBI and run scored. He opened the series at Nicholls on March 11 going 1-for-4 with a walk. On March 12, he had two hits, including a home run, with an RBI, a run scored and two stolen bases. On March 13 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. He went 1-for-3 with a walk on Tuesday vs. Louisiana Tech.
STERLING HEATING UP BEHIND THE DISH
Sophomore
Caleb Sterling has started 10 of the first 15 games at catcher and has played in 12 contests. He has increased his offensive production during ULM's 3-1 week from March 7-13. He hit .385 at the plate (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 the March 11 series opener at Nicholls. He closed the series on March 13 with a crucial RBI single in the seventh inning, scoring
Colby Deaville from first base for the 1-0 lead.
He continued his offensive uptick against Louisiana Tech on Tuesday, going 1-for-3 at the plate in the midweek start.
Sterling is hitting .270 on the season (10-for-37) 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 March 11 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 March 12 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 five games, including four multi-hit games. He has two hits in a game seven times this season. He leads the team in hits (19) and doubles (four).
P-40 SUNDAYS
ULM unveiled its P-40 Warhawk series uniforms on March 7, 2021, vs. Nicholls. The Warhawks will wear the P-40 uniforms on every Sunday, home or away, and for select midweek games. The Curtiss P-40 Warhawks constituted the principal armament of the U.S. Army Air Force (USAFF) fighter squadrons in the early 1940s. In the summer of 1941, Maj. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault, who grew up in Louisiana, began recruiting and training pilots for the American Volunteer Group, who became known as the "Flying Tigers" in China during World War II. The P-40 Warhawk served as inspiration for ULM's new nickname/mascot, adopted in 2006. The P-40 uniform series incorporates details of the fighter into its design. The ULM baseball team is the third Warhawk team to wear a P-40 Warhawk alternate uniform, joining football and men's basketball.
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).
