ULM (13-20 overall, 3-8 Sun Belt Conference) vs. South Alabama (15-17 overall, 5-7 Sun Belt Conference)
Lou St. Amant Field | Monroe, Louisiana
6 p.m. Friday, April 14, 2023 | ULM | Cam Barlow, 5-11, Jr., LHP (2-4, 4.81 ERA, 35 K, 15 BB) vs. USA | Jeremy Lee, 5-11, R-So., RHP (0-5, 6.25 ERA, 35 K, 17 BB)
WATCH: ESPN+ | LISTEN: 105.7 FM/540 AM KMLB | LIVE STATS | TICKETS
2 p.m. Saturday, April 15, 2023 | ULM | Chipper Menard, 5-11, Jr., LHP (2-3, 5.03 ERA, 48 K, 16 BB) vs. USA | Sam Knowlton, 6-8, R-Jr., RHP (2-1, 2.93 ERA, 17 K, 9 BB)
WATCH: ESPN+ | LISTEN: 105.7 FM/540 AM KMLB | LIVE STATS | TICKETS
1 p.m. Sunday, April 16, 2023 | ULM | Hollis Huff, 6-2, Jr., LHP (1-1, 4.34 ERA, 22 K, 13 BB) vs. USA | Mitchell Heer, 5-11, So., RHP (1-1, 4.72 ERA, 21 K, 9 BB)
WATCH: ESPN+ | LISTEN: 105.7 FM/540 AM KMLB | LIVE STATS | TICKETS
GAME NOTES
MONROE, La. - The ULM baseball team returns to Lou St. Amant Field for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series against South Alabama. It is the first time for South Alabama to visit ULM since April 7-9, 2017, when the Jaguars swept the series, 14-2, 4-1, 8-3.
Friday's game is the 55th all-time meeting between ULM and South Alabama, with the Jaguars leading the series, 39-15. The two teams met in a series for the first time since the 2018 season last year, when USA swept ULM, 12-4, 3-1 and 4-2, on May 13-15 in Mobile. ULM and USA met in the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Championship in Conway, South Carolina, when 10th-seeded ULM defeated seventh-seeded South Alabama, 12-7, in the single-elimination play-in game, sending the Warhawks to the double-elimination bracket.
ULM (13-20 overall, 3-8 Sun Belt Conference) completed a season sweep of I-20 rival Louisiana Tech, 8-5, Wednesday night at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park in Ruston. It was ULM's first season sweep of LA Tech since 2005.
Zack Floyd and
Riley Davis had two hits and two RBIs apiece, with Floyd hitting a 2-run home run and a double, while Davis had a double. The Warhawks used nine different pitchers, one each inning, with seven pitchers throwing shutout innings.
Nicholas Judice earned the win, throwing a perfect eighth inning with two strikeouts, while
Carson Orton threw a scoreless ninth inning for his second save of the year. The Warhawks took both games in a weather-shortened series last weekend at App State, winning 12-3 on Thursday and 3-2 on Saturday in Boone, North Carolina.
South Alabama (15-17 overall, 5-7 SBC) had its midweek game at Alabama State suspended due to darkness in the eighth inning on Tuesday night, with the score tied at 8. The Jaguars won two out of three games against Texas State last week at Stanky Field in Mobile, dropping the first game of Thursday's doubleheader, 8-4, before winning the nightcap, 8-4, and Friday's series finale, 5-4. USA has won its last two SBC series after starting conference play 1-5 against Georgia Southern and the Ragin' Cajuns.
As of Thursday, ULM ranks in the Top 100 in several NCAA stat categories. The Warhawks are 28th in NCAA Division I and third in the Sun Belt Conference in double plays (28), 61st nationally and fifth in the SBC in sacrifice bunts (16), 76th nationally and fifth in the SBC in stolen bases (47), 91st nationally and fourth in the SBC in walks and hits per innings pitched (1.50), 93rd nationally and eighth in the SBC in hit by pitch (45) and 100th nationally and third in the SBC in hits allowed per nine innings (9.17).
Individually,
Shawn Dalton Weatherbee is third in the nation and leads the SBC, having been hit by a pitch 18 times this year.
Cardell Thibodeaux is ranked 40th in the nation and fourth in the SBC with four sacrifice flies.
Carson Jones is 91st nationally and seventh in the SBC with four sacrifice bunts.
Chipper Menard is 99th nationally and ninth in the SBC with 10.98 strikeouts per nine innings.
All three games of the series are available to stream on ESPN+ and will be broadcast on 105.7 FM/540 AM KMLB, KMLB.com and the TuneIn app with the Voice of the Warhawks, Mike Hammett, on the call for both. A link to live stats can be found on the baseball schedule page at ULMWarhawks.com.
