NATCHITOCHES, La. – Northwestern State used a four-run third inning to open the lead, highlighted by a 3-run home run by Gabe Colaianni, and went on to the 6-2 win over ULM Tuesday night at Brown-Stroud Field to complete the regular-season sweep of the Warhawks.
NSU took control in the bottom of the first inning when Jacob Farrell led off with a home run to left-center field for the 1-0 lead. After the Demons failed to score with runners on second and third base with one out in the second inning, NSU built the gap in the third inning. Daunte Stuart's sacrifice fly in foul territory down the right-field line allowed Jeffrey Elkins to score for the 2-0 lead. After Michael Dattalo and Jake Haze singled, Colaianni hit his 3-run homer to right center to build the 5-0 advantage.
ULM had runners on base in each of the first three innings, but committed an out on the basepaths in each inning to cut the scoring opportunities short.
"We shot ourselves in the foot and gave them basically three outs on baserunning mistakes," ULM head coach
Michael Federico said. "We're getting thrown out trying to take an extra base. I get it. But in that moment, it was not the right time. Some of those guys are new. Some of them have been here for a little while. But we can't make mistakes on the basepaths. We've done it way too much already this year."
The Warhawks picked up a run in the top of the fourth inning as
Riley Davis' RBI single scored
Kade Dupont. However, the next 11 Warhawks after Davis' single were retired until
Shawn Dalton Weatherbee's one-out single in the eighth inning.
NSU regained the five-run lead in the bottom of the seventh when Elkins scored on an error following Dattalo's single.
ULM cut the gap back to four in the eighth as Weatherbee scored on Dupont's RBI double. However, the Warhawks were unable to get any closer. With Dupont on second and
Davis Meche on third with one out, a strikeout and groundout brought an end to the inning. NSU's Kyle Froehlich retired ULM in order in the ninth to close out the game.
Chase Prestwich (3-0) earned his second win against ULM in six days, throwing five innings, allowing one run on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
Hollis Huff (1-1) suffered the loss for ULM, throwing just two innings in a designated short start, allowing a run on two hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
Henry Shuffler allowed the four-run third inning, but retired the next eight hitters he faced following Colaianni's homer, including five strikeouts.
Steve Owings and
Russell Derbyshire each entered the game with runners in scoring position and did not allow the inherited runners to score.
"I thought Hollis was good," Federico said. "We needed to get Henry back out there. He licked his wounds and put his hard hat on and went to work and gave us two quality innings after that, which was encouraging. It was nice to see Derbyshire and Owings put some zeros on there with runners in scoring position. They both got out of some jams there."
The Warhawks committed three errors in the loss.
"We can't let a ball get past us in the outfield," Federico said. "Little things are going to happen, but we can't let a ball get past us in the outfield, especially twice in center."
Weatherbee had three hits and a run scored for ULM, while Dupont had two hits, including a double, RBI and a run scored. Floyd added two hits. Elkins and Dattalo had two hits each to pace NSU, with Colaianni leading the way with three RBIs.
ULM opens Sun Belt Conference play at 6 p.m. Friday against Old Dominion at Lou St. Amant Field.
