MONROE, La. – ULM bashed five home runs as a team and every player in the starting lineup picked up at least one hit as the Warhawks opened the final series of the regular season with a 16-9 win over Arkansas State at Warhawk Field. The two teams combined for eight home runs on the night.
The win for ULM (17-34-1 overall, 7-20-1 Sun Belt Conference) coupled with Georgia Southern's 5-3 win over UT Arlington moves the Warhawks into 10th place in the Sun Belt Conference standings by one half-game over UTA with two games remaining. The top 10 teams qualify for next week's SBC Championship at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Alabama.
Nicholas Judice (3-1) fired a season-high five innings out of the bullpen for the win, allowing two runs on four hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Justin Medlin (1-7) took the loss for A-State, allowing six runs on six hits with four strikeouts and three walks in three-plus innings.
Arkansas State (11-36, 5-22) started out hot. Ben Klutts hit a two-run home run, followed immediately by Brandon Hager's solo home run to put the Red Wolves up 3-0 in the first inning.
ULM's offense started slowly, but quickly went into high gear.
Colby Deaville led off the second inning with a line-drive home run to left field and
Trace Henry followed later in the inning with an RBI fielder's choice to plate
Chase DeJean, bringing the Warhawks within a run, 3-2.
Mason Holt tied the game at 3 to open the third inning by hitting his 14th home run of the season.
The Warhawks busted the game open with an eight-run fourth inning.
Matthew Lee hit his first career home run, a two-run shot to left, and
Carson Jones followed with a solo home run to put ULM up 6-3 and chase Medlin from the game. Later in the inning,
Grant Schulz hit an RBI single to score
Ryan Cupit.
Michelle Artzberger's grand slam to left put an exclamation point on the inning, as ULM led 11-3.
After A-State picked up a run in the top of the sixth, the Warhawks answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Jones hit a two-out, two-RBI single to center to bring home Schulz and Deaville.
Trace Henry added an RBI single to plate Lee to bring the advantage to 10 runs, 14-4.
The Red Wolves added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings before ULM answered in the bottom of the eighth. Cupit and Holt each hit RBI singles to score Jones and Henry, respectively, to stretch the lead to 16-6.
A-State scored three runs in the ninth inning, including a two-run home run by Jared Toler, to make the final score 16-9.
Eight Warhawks had multi-hit games, with Holt leading the way with three hits. Artzberger drove in four runs, while Jones added three RBIs and Henry, Holt and Lee had two RBIs each. Daedrick Cail led Arkansas State with three hits while Klutts had three RBIs.
The series continues at 6 p.m. Friday at Warhawk Field.
