ULM Warhawks

MONROE, La. - The ULM baseball team wraps up a five-game road swing Tuesday night with a 6 p.m. game at Louisiana Tech at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park in Ruston. It is the second meeting between the I-20 foes this season, after LA Tech won 8-4 on March 15 at Warhawk Field in Monroe.

Tuesday's game is available to stream on ConferenceUSA.com/Watch. The game will air on 105.7 FM/540 AM KMLB, KMLB.com and the TuneIn app with Mike Hammett on the call on the Warhawk Radio Network from Learfield. A link to live stats is available on the baseball schedule page at ULMWarhawks.com.

Tuesday's game is the 186th meeting between ULM and LA Tech, with the Bulldogs leading the series, 108-77. Louisiana Tech has won the last three meetings in the series, starting with a 5-0 win in Monroe on April 16, 2019. The Bulldogs swept last year's meetings, winning 10-3 in Monroe and 9-7 in Ruston. ULM last defeated LA Tech, 9-4, on March 26, 2019, in Ruston. 

ULM (15-26-1 overall, 6-14-1 Sun Belt Conference) was swept in a Sun Belt Conference series at Little Rock, falling 4-3 on Friday, 12-9 on Saturday and 7-6 in walk-off fashion on Sunday. The Warhawks enter the week in ninth place in the Sun Belt Conference, one-half game ahead of both App State and UT Arlington and one game ahead of Arkansas State. The top 10 teams in the SBC standings advance to the SBC Championship at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Alabama. The Warhawks are hitting .260 as a team with 196 RBIs, while the pitching staff has posted an ERA of 6.11.

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 1-6 against Louisiana Tech.

Louisiana Tech (30-15 overall, 14-7 Conference USA) won a three-game conference series at future Sun Belt Conference-member Old Dominion over the weekend. The Bulldogs lost Friday's game, 5-0, before bouncing back with a 10-5 win on Saturday and 8-4 victory on Sunday. LA Tech is tied for second place in C-USA with UTSA, three games behind Southern Miss. They are 7-5 in midweek games this season after last Wednesday's 8-7 loss at Little Rock. LA Tech is hitting .269 as a team with 294 RBIs while posting a team ERA of 4.06.

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 13-3 overall against ULM, including a 7-1 mark as head coach of LA Tech.

HOLT LEADS THE WAY
Senior leadoff hitter Mason Holt leads ULM with a .322 batting average, .614 slugging percentage, 55 hits, 36 runs scored, 29 RBIs, 11 doubles, three triples, 11 home runs and 105 total bases. He is second on the team with nine stolen bases and 24 walks. He joins fellow senior Grant Schulz as the only two players to start all 42 games in 2022. He is third in the SBC in total bases, fifth in home runs, sixth in hits, seventh in slugging percentage and eighth in runs scored.

The Coppell, Texas, native is slashing .322/.420/.614 at the plate, which all rank in the top two on the team. He has hit safely in eight of the last nine games and has reached base safely in the last 21 games.

Inside SBC play, Holt is slashing .353/.455/.694 with seven doubles, two triples, six homers, 15 RBIs, 19 runs scored and 14 walks. He is the one of two Warhawks hitting over .300 in conference play (Colby Deaville, .300).

He had a four-RBI game against Stephen F. Austin on March 23, going 2-for-4 with a double and grand slam, all in the first inning. He had a career-high four hits March 27 vs. Georgia State, going 4-for-5 with a double, home run, RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base. He belted a pair of home runs on March 29 at No. 11 LSU, driving in three of ULM's four runs. He has hit leadoff home runs in the first inning in consecutive games against Georgia State and LSU. He had three hits with a double and a home run at UT Arlington on April 2. He had two hits, including a 3-run home run, vs. Troy on April 9. He hit the go-ahead 2-run homer April 12 at Jackson State. He clubbed his 10th homer of the season with two hits and two runs scored vs. App State on April 24. He had a 2-RBI triple and a 2-run home run with a walk and two runs scored at Little Rock on April 30.

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 slashing .313/.412/.450, all ranking inside the top three on the team.

He has hit safely in 25 of 34 games since rejoining the starting lineup, including 12 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 had three hits, including a solo home run, with a walk and a stolen base at Coastal Carolina on March 19. He had two hits with an RBI single on March 25 vs. Georgia State before adding a solo home run on March 27. He tallied two hits with a double, was hit by a pitch and scored three runs at SFA on April 4. He was the only Warhawk to hit safely in all three games in the weekend series vs. Troy, collecting two hits in each of the last two games, going 5-for-16 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored vs. the Trojans from April 8-10. He tallied two hits in each of the final two games of the series vs. App State on April 23-24, including an RBI with a run scored in the series finale. He had three hits for the third time this season and scored three runs with a walk and two stolen bases at Little Rock on April 30. He walked three times at Little Rock on May 1.

WARHAWK WALK-OFF
ULM has picked up two walk-off wins at this season.

The Warhawks picked up their second walk-off of the year on April 20. In the 10th inning, sophomore Chase DeJean hit a sacrifice fly to deep left center, scoring senior Trace Henry to defeat McNeese, 4-3.

ULM junior Travis Washburn brought an end to the March 25 5-3 ULM win over Georgia State, hitting a 2-run walk-off home run to right field in the bottom of the 11th inning. It was his third home run of the season and capped a two-hit, three-RBI night for the junior.

RYAN CUPIT DOING RYAN CUPIT THINGS
After spending two seasons as one of the first players off the bench for ULM, senior Ryan Cupit has taken over as the starting left fielder for the Warhawks.

The West Monroe, Louisiana, native ranks 28th nationally while leading ULM and the Sun Belt Conference with a .497 on-base percentage. He also ranks sixth nationally and leads ULM and the SBC in base on balls (43), while ranking fifth nationally and leading the SBC in base on balls per game (1.05). His 43 walks are 10 better than the next closest player in the SBC (Erick Orbeta, South Alabama, 33). His 43 walks are tied for eighth most in a single season in ULM history.

He had a streak of nine consecutive games with at least one walk drawn snapped on April 4 at SFA, when he went 3-for-6 with a double, RBI and a run scored. He had a season-high four walks vs. New Orleans on March 5. In addition, he is hitting .312 at the plate (40-for-128) with six doubles, three triples, 10 RBIs, 31 runs scored, three stolen bases and has been hit by a pitch four times. He has struck out 35 times.

In the series at Little Rock, he walked five times, including going 1-for-2 with three walks and two runs scored on May 1. He had his second 11-game reached base streak of the season snapped in the series opener on April 29.

On April 20 against McNeese, Cupit had three hits, including a double, with a walk as he reached safely in each of his first four trips to the plate. He had three hits with two RBIs and a walk in the weekend series vs. App State.

In the series at UL Lafayette, he had two hits with a walk on April 16; two hits, including a key RBI, with two walks on April 15; and was 1-for-4 on April 14.

At Jackson State on Tuesday, he was 0-for-2 with two walks, was hit by a pitch and picked up an RBI, his seventh of the season.

Against Troy, he was 4-for-12 at the plate with two triples, two RBIs, four runs scored, four walks and two strikeouts from April 8-10.

He had a 3-for-5 day at the plate on March 20 at Coastal Carolina with a walk, was hit by a pitch and scored a career high five runs. Cupit has appeared in 37 of 38 games with 33 starts and has reached base safely in 33 games. He had an 11-game reached base streak snapped on March 19 at Coastal Carolina.

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 had a career-best seven-game hitting streak and 22-game reached-base streak end on April 2 at UT Arlington. He has 16 multi-hit games, including a season-high three hits on March 27 vs. Georgia State and April 10 vs. Troy. He is slashing .277/.309/.390 with nine doubles, one triple, three home runs, 28 RBIs, 20 runs scored, 10 walks and three stolen bases. He is second on the team with 49 hits and is second on the team with nine doubles. 

At Little Rock, Schulz went 4-for-13 at the plate with two home runs, a double, four RBIs, three runs scored and one walk.

SHUFFLER GETS ANOTHER MIDWEEK NOD
Redshirt freshman Henry Shuffler is set for his eighth start of the season Tuesday night when ULM visits Louisiana Tech. Shuffler is 2-2 with a 5.55 ERA over 24 1/3 innings, allowing 17 runs, 15 earned, on 23 hits with 29 strikeouts to 19 walks. Over his last two starts, both against McNeese, he is 1-0, allowing four runs, three earned, on six hits, with 11 strikeouts and four walks. He faced Louisiana Tech in his third career start on March 15, giving up five runs on three hits with no strikeouts and two walks while also hitting three batters in just 2/3 of an inning.

ORTON SLAMS THE DOOR
Redshirt sophomore right-hander Carson Orton earned his sixth save of the season on April 26 at McNeese, pitching a scoreless ninth inning, allowing a hit with two strikeouts. It marked the 15th save of his career, moving him into third place on the career saves list at ULM, passing Bobby Carro with 14 saves from 2001-02. He trails Anthony Herrera's 23 saves from 2015-17 and Mark Wisniewski's 20 saves from 1982-85.

His nine saves last season ranks third in a single season in ULM history, tied with Carro's 2001 season. With one more save, Orton will become the second pitcher with two seasons ranking inside the Top 10 in saves in program history, joining Anthony Herrera.

The Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, native is 1-0 with six saves in 2022 with a 3.25 ERA over 27 2/3 innings, spread across 18 appearances. He has allowed 12 runs, 10 earned, on 32 hits with 26 strikeouts to 12 walks.

WE'RE GOING STREAKING
ULM enters Tuesday's game at Louisiana Tech with two hitting streaks of five-or-more games and five reached base streaks of five-or-more games.

Seniors Grant Schulz and Trace Henry each have five-game hitting streaks, while Henry has reached base safely in eight consecutive appearances.

Senior Mason Holt is on a career-high 21-game reached base streak, while senior Colby Deaville is right behind him, also on a career-best on-base streak of 19 games. Junior Travis Washburn has reached base safely in his last five appearances.

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).