MONROE, La. – Ethan Groff's double and Andrew Fischer's RBI triple to lead off the ninth inning broke a 3-3 stalemate as Ole Miss plated two runs in the inning and went on to the 5-3 win over ULM Tuesday afternoon at Lou St. Amant Field.
"It just came down to one or two plays here or there," ULM head coach
Michael Federico said. "I don't feel like we got knocked down. I told the team we stayed in the middle of the ring with them. We went toe to toe and I know we're capable of doing that. It's a lesson learned."
Groff doubled down the right-field line to open the inning and scored on Fischer's RBI triple off the wall for the 4-3 Ole Miss lead. Ethan Lege followed two batters later with an RBI groundout as Ole Miss took the 5-3 lead.
ULM picked up a 2-out single from
Bryce Blaser in the bottom of the ninth, but he was stranded on first base to end the game.
"We've got to do some of the things a little bit different in some way, shape or form," Federico said. "When you look at it, they made a couple of big plays."
The Warhawks started the day strong.
Joey Cirelli induced an inning-ending double play to get out of the top of the first unscathed.
The bats started off strong for ULM.
Easton Winfield and
Colby Lunsford led off with back-to-back singles before
Michelle Artzberger hit a 2-RBI double down the right field line, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. ULM led 2-0 after one inning.
Ole Miss struck back in the fourth. Luke Hill led off with a walk and moved to second on Treyson Hughes' single. Reagan Buford laid down a bunt on the third base line and beat the throw to first base, where the ball rolled away from Artzberger. Artzberger threw high while trying to throw out Hill at home on the play, allowing the runners to move up and cutting the lead in half, 2-1. Two hit batters forced in Hughes to tie the game at 2, and Fischer hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Burford to give Ole Miss the 3-2 lead.
ULM answered in the bottom of the fourth on
Shawn Dalton Weatherbee's solo home run, his second of the season, to tie the game at 3.
The game stayed tied until the ninth. Ole Miss had its best chance to score in the sixth with back-to-back 1-out singles by Bo Gatlin and Eli Berch. However,
Davis Oswalt and
Brandt Corley struck out each of the next two hitters to end the inning.
ULM's best chance to break the tie came in the bottom of the sixth when Artzberger doubled to lead off the inning. However, Haggard hit a fly ball to right field, where Hughes made a sliding catch coming in toward the foul line. Artzberger tried to advance to third on the play, but Hughes popped up and made a perfect throw to third base to catch Artzberger to empty the bases.
"I'm good with us gambling there," Federico said. "We have to do that because, who knows, maybe that ball gets away and we score. We got thrown out on a couple stolen base attempts and things like that, and that's how we're built. It's just part of it, and it's led to some big innings for us."
Artzberger had two doubles and two RBIs to lead ULM offensively, while Weatherbee had two hits including the home run. Groff, Fischer, Hughes, Burford and Gatlin each had two hits for Ole Miss, with Fischer driving in two runs.
Mason Nichols (1-0) earned the win in relief for Ole Miss, recording the final two outs of the eighth inning. Connor Spencer earned his third save, throwing a scorless ninth inning with one hit and two strikeouts.
Carson Orton (2-1) suffered the loss for ULM, allowing two runs on three hits with one strikeout in the ninth inning.
Joey Cirelli threw two shutout innings, allowing three hits with one strikeout in the start for ULM.
Davis Oswalt threw two scoreless innings, while
Aidan Haynes and
Brandon Brewer also tossed shutout frames.
"I'm proud of where our guys are right now," Federico said. "It's time to flush this. If people came and watched us, they'd see we're a good baseball club and we can play with anybody. We're entertaining."
ULM begins Sun Belt Conference play against Troy at 6 p.m. Friday at Lou St. Amant Field.
