MONROE, La. – Sophomore Landon Cato belted a 3-run home run, his second homer of the season, and the ULM pitching staff kept Northwestern State's offense quiet for much of the night, as the Warhawks ended a nine-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Demons Wednesday night at Warhawk Field. It was NSU's eighth-consecutive loss.
 
"We were really close knit," Cato said. "These last 10 games, there have been speed bumps. The start of the season is not how anybody expected it to be. There were some speed bumps in the locker room. This past week, we came back together how we were before the season started. We really came together and worked some stuff out with different guys and it showed tonight."
 
The Warhawks (2-9) limited NSU (3-9) to just one hit through the first seven innings and shutout the Demons through eight innings before allowing two runs in the top of the ninth. Meanwhile the Warhawk offense tallied double-digit hits for the third consecutive game and pushed across six runs, with the biggest blow coming from Cato in the fifth inning.
 
With ULM ahead 1-0 on an RBI groundout by sophomore Carson Jones in the second inning, the Warhawks expanded the lead in the fifth. Senior Ryan Cupit was hit by a pitch and senior Grant Schulz walked before Cato sent a 3-run shot down the left field line, clearing the wall just inside the foul pole to extend the lead to 4-0.
 
"I was just starting to see the ball well recently," Cato said. "We've been working on trying to see the hanging pitch for a year and a half now, but finally I'm seeing it and seeing it at the right time."
 
"It's literally been a year and a half we've been trying to work on him with pitch recognition," ULM head coach Michael Federico said. "When you're hitting in the middle of the lineup and you're as big and as physical as he is, he's a presence. He's going to get those pitches. He took one down, which was really impressive to me, because a lot of times he swings at that one. He swung at the hanger. He is usually the opposite way. Hopefully he can learn from that and put some fear in some other people the rest of the year."
 
ULM added two more runs in the seventh inning as senior Colby Deaville's RBI double plated Cato. Deaville later scored on a wild pitch for the 6-0 advantage.
 
After threatening with the bases loaded in the third inning, two runners on base in the sixth inning and the bases loaded again in the eighth inning, NSU broke through with two runs in the ninth before a double play ended the game.
 
Cato led ULM with three hits and three RBIs. Deaville, Schulz and sophomore Caleb Sterling had two hits each. Gray Rowlett had two of NSU's five hits.
 
"We've had some rough spurts," Cato said. "I know we have a really, really good team. If there was any time to do it, now is the time to do it. I'm just trying to stick to the approach. One thing I couldn't understand for the longest time was trying to see that outside pitch and knowing I can do damage with that and not just an inside pitch. I finally trusted the approach."
 
Redshirt freshman Henry Shuffler took a no-decision in the start, but threw three shutout innings, allowing just one hit with four strikeouts and three walks. Sophomore Cole Cressend (1-1) earned the win in relief, firing three shutout and hitless innings with two strikeouts and one walk. Junior Reid Goleman and senior Lucas Wepf each fired a shutout inning out of the bullpen. Donovan Ohnoutka (1-2) suffered the loss for NSU, allowing four runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and two walks in 4 2/3 innings.
 
"It was huge for the confidence of the team and get the program going back in the right direction," Federico said. "I'm really proud of our team. We've had a rough little go of this. Hopefully they can come together as a team. When you watch people celebrate championships, they talk about the love that they have for each other, playing for each other and how fun the locker room is. It hasn't been that way. Losing can be a part of that. There's other things that factor into it. I think we've had some selfish moments from some of our guys, some finger pointing and that kind of stuff. It happens when you're losing. It's real easy to say don't do it, but at the same time, hopefully we've learned from it and we can get going."
 
The win evened the all-time series in ULM's most played rivalry at 113 wins each.
 
ULM opens a weekend series at Nicholls at 6 p.m. Friday.