CONWAY, S.C. – Sophomore Cam Barlow, senior Lucas Wepf and sophomore Carson Orton combined to limit Coastal Carolina to four hits and the ULM defense turned four double plays as the Warhawks held off the Chanticleers, 3-2, Friday afternoon to open Sun Belt Conference play at Springs Brooks Stadium.
 
It was ULM's first win against CCU in 12 meetings between the two teams.
 
"I'm super proud of us doing what we had to do to win," ULM head coach Michael Federico said. "We found a way to win. There's been a lot of moments that we found ways to lose. Hopefully we can build off of this with some momentum."
 
Barlow (2-1) earned his second consecutive win, throwing 5 2/3 innings, allowing an unearned run on one hit with two strikeouts and a career-high six walks. The Warhawks (5-11 overall, 1-0 Sun Belt Conference) turned three of the four double plays behind Barlow, all of them to end the inning.
 
"My focus after walking those guys was making them put it in play and let our defense work," Barlow said. "Grant (Schulz) and our middle infield did a phenomenal job, even (Michelle Artzberger) over there, picking that ball."
 
Barlow said when the defense is rolling, it helps his confidence.
 
"You have zero pressure on you," Barlow said. 'You just go in and make them force contact. I don't have to get 10 strikeouts every outing. I can go in there and let them swing and let my defense work for me."
 
"We as the pitching staff are always talking about forcing soft contact and lead the country in double plays," Federico said. "We don't strike out a lot of people. We got a good start in conference play with that. Cam walked way too many people with six walks, but when you walk six and get three double plays, it helps. He got through there were it could have got really sideways for us. I was super proud of him inducing some of those things."
 
The Warhawks took the lead in the second inning. Senior Colby Deaville hit a leadoff double to the left field corner and sophomore Caleb Sterling followed with an RBI double down the right field line for the 1-0 advantage. With two outs, senior Mason Holt hit an RBI single to bring home Sterling for the 2-0 lead.
 
In the fifth inning, junior Travis Washburn, making his first start since March 4th, hit a leadoff home run down the left field line to push the lead to 3-0.
 
"There's no doubt I was off to a rough start," Washburn said. "The confidence of today going into conference play and getting that 1-0 start and hopefully we can go get 2-0 tomorrow."
 
Washburn said he kept his head up while he was on the bench.
 
"When I was riding the bench, I was behind Carson (Jones) and Grant and I was pulling for them 100 percent," Washburn said. "We're trying to get some wins here. If that comes with me on the bench, that comes with me on the bench. That's how I was raised, was pulling for the whole team, trying to get wins."
 
Coastal (10-7, 0-1) got on the board in the sixth inning. Barlow issued back-to-back walks to Austin White and Eric Brown with one out. Nick Lucky hit a sacrifice fly to right to score White to cut the gap to 3-1. Wepf came out of the bullpen to strike out Dale Thomas to retire the side.
 
The Chanticleers added another in the eighth inning. Wepf surrendered a leadoff single to Matt McDermott. After a steal and passed ball moved him to third base, White hit a sacrifice fly to bring CCU within a run, 3-2. Wepf struck out Brown before Lucky singled to extend the inning. Orton came in from the bullpen to get Thomas to fly out to center to end the inning.
 
Orton walked Cooper Weiss to lead off the ninth inning, but a sacrifice bunt and back-to-back strikeouts brought the game to an end and handed Orton his second save.
 
"Everybody went out there with a sense of pride knowing that if we fill up (the strike zone), we're going to win the game," Orton said. "Barlow set the tone early. It sets the tone for the whole team and the bullpen watching him dominate."
 
After struggling early in the season, Federico said it was a great way to start the conference schedule.
 
"The word we used was refresh," Federico said. "Now you get a little confidence. You're 1-0 in conference. I've been stressing to them these 30 games are vital to us. I'm tired of being bullied by a lot of people and everybody telling us this and telling us that or telling us we don't have this or we don't have that. I don't accept that. I hope our players don't either. We are where we're at right now for a reason. It's for us to figure this out and enjoy the journey that we're on."
 
Sterling and Washburn had two hits each for ULM. Nick Parker (0-1) suffered the loss for CCU, pitching seven innings, allowing three runs on nine hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
 
Saturday's game time has been moved up to 11 a.m. EDT/10 a.m. CDT due to the threat of weather later in the day.