MONROE, La. – After an electrical issue suspended the first game of the series between ULM and UIW in the fourth inning, the two teams completed two games on Saturday at Lou St. Amant Field with ULM taking the series opener, 6-5, before UIW answered back with a 7-4 win in the second game of the series.
 
The two teams will conclude the series at 1 p.m. Sunday at Lou St. Amant Field.
 
Game 1: ULM 6, UIW 5
 
Ian Montz came through with an RBI on a sacrifice bunt, plating Michelle Artzberger, in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Carson Orton worked around some traffic in the top of the ninth as ULM took a back-and-forth battle, 6-5, over UIW to open the weekend series.
 
"It was great to respond after the delay, with the light pole going out and everything, and getting a win," ULM head coach Michael Federico said. "It's the first series opening win this year, and it puts you in a position to be able to win a weekend."
 
Artzberger led the way for ULM with three hits, including a leadoff double in the seventh inning. Shawn Dalton Weatherbee hit a go-ahead 2-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. JD Gregson was the only Cardinal with multiple hits, coming up with two hits, including a game-tying 3-run home run in the top of the eighth inning.
 
Carson Orton (2-0) recorded the final four outs for his second win of the season, allowing one walk with two strikeouts. Daniel Gonzalez fired 3 1/3 innings in the start with one hit, one walk and five strikeouts before the game was suspended. Beau Blanchard followed with the bullpen appearance to open play on Saturday, firing three innings and allowing one run on three hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
 
"I thought our pitchers gave us a chance," Federico said. "Gonzo was great last night. I feel like Blanchard and even Chipper (Menard) executed some really good pitches. Carson Orton came in and closed the door for us, which was huge."
 
Isaiah Zavala (1-1) entered on the hill with the restart on Saturday, taking the loss by throwing 4 1/3 innings, allowing six runs, four earned, on eight hits with three strikeouts. Josh Salinas threw three shutout innings in the start, allowing one hit with four strikeouts.
 
Neither team managed much of a scoring threat in play on Friday night, as Gonzalez and Salinas were in control. UIW had the best chance in the top of the second as Gregson hit a one out double and advanced to third on a wild pitch with two outs. However, Gonzalez struck out Rey Hernandez looking to end the inning.
 
The right field light pole malfunctioned ahead of the top of the third inning, resulting in a 15-minute delay, but play resumed, with each side being retired in order. Gonzalez worked ahead of Ryan Scott with an 0-2 count when the electrical issues in right field arose again, resulting in the game to be suspended at 6:55 p.m. Friday.
 
After play resumed at 11 a.m. Saturday, the two sides played scoreless fourth and fifth innings before ULM broke through in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jayson Zmejkoski led off with an infield single and stole second base. After Hasani Johnson lined out, Easton Winfield grounded out to third base. On the throw across to retire Winfield, Zmejkoski broke for third base. Scott, the first baseman, threw back across the diamond to try and retire Zmejkoski, but his throw was wide and allowed Zmejkoski to score for the 1-0 lead.
 
UIW responded in the top of the seventh inning. Hernandez hit an RBI single to right field to score Gregson to tie the game at 1. After a mound visit, Tyler Cowan hit an RBI groundout to plate Rob Liddington for a 2-1 advantage.
 
ULM bounced right back with a four-run bottom of the seventh. Artzberger opened the inning with a double and Jake Haggard followed with a single to put runners on first and third. A wild pitch allowed Artzberger to score to tie the game to 2 and moved Haggard to second. After a groundout, Weatherbee clubbed a 2-run home run, his first of the season and seventh of his career, to put the Warhawks back on top, 4-2. With the bases empty and two outs, ULM rallied for another run as Zmejkoski reached on an error and moved to second base. Hasani Johnson followed with an RBI single to right to bring home Zmejkoski for the 5-2 lead.
 
The heavyweight fight continued into the top of the eighth inning as the Cardinals came back again. UIW picked up a pair of walks before Gregson hit a game-tying 3-run home run with two outs in the inning, tying the game at 5. After the home run, a walk and an error put runners on second and third, but Orton got Cowan to pop out to end the inning.
 
The Warhawks came up with the eventual game-winning run in the bottom of the inning. Artzberger led off the inning with a single and moved to third on Kade Dupont's single. Montz laid down a sacrifice bunt to bring home Artzberger and put ULM back on top, 6-5.
 
In the top of the ninth, Orton issued a leadoff walk to Grant Randall. He retired Cameron Caley on a lineout to left and struck out Scott. Randall stole second to put a runner in scoring position. After Orton hit Mendoza with a pitch, he struck out Dalton Beck swinging to end the game.
 
GAME 2: UIW 7, ULM 4
 
In the second game of the series, UIW scored in third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, putting up five runs in those frames thanks to seven of their 11 hits and two ULM errors, as the Cardinals pulled away and held on for a 7-4 win.
 
Winfield and Jack Clark had two hits each to lead ULM, while Artzberger tallied two RBIs while reaching base safely for the 40th-straight game with a double in the fifth inning. Haggard hit his fourth home run of the season in the eighth inning.
 
Caley tallied three hits and scored three times for UIW, while Beck had three hits, two doubles and a triple, with an RBI. Weldon Sherrell, who came on as a pinch runner early in the game, finished with two hits and two RBIs while walking twice.
 
Cam Barlow (0-1) took the loss on the mound in the start for ULM, allowing three runs on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings. Hunter Hargett took the mound in the short start for UIW after finishing the first game on the mound with the final two outs. He threw three innings in game two, allowing one run on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts. The win went to Westin Walls (1-0), who threw the final 4 1/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.
 
"In the second game, I thought we gave ourselves a chance on the mound, but we've got to get better from the offensive standpoint," Federico said. "We made a couple errors that really cost us and left a bunch of guys on base in scoring position."
 
UIW opened the scoring in the top of the first inning as Caley led off with a single. After Barlow struck out the next two batters, Beck delivered an RBI double to left as Caley scored from first for the 1-0 lead.
 
ULM answered with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Easton Winfield doubled to open the frame. After Colby Lunsford walked, Artzberger hit into a double play, moving Winfield to third. Haggard drew a walk to put runners on the corners, and then intentionally put himself in a run down, allowing Winfield to score while Haggard was in the run down, tying the game at 1.
 
UIW broke the game open in the middle portion of the contest. The Cardinals picked up a run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Liddington to bring in Caley for the 2-1 lead. They added another in the fourth inning as Caley hit a two-out RBI single to bring home Sherrell for the 3-1 advantage. UIW picked up two more runs in the fifth inning as Gregson's sacrifice fly brought in Beck and Sherrell's RBI single plated Cameron Crotte for the 5-1 lead.
 
The Warhawks struck back in the bottom of the fifth inning. Marcus Aranda hit a one-out single to left center and moved to second base on a balk. After a pop out, Winfield was hit by a pitch and Lunsford walked to load the bases. Artzberger followed with a 2-RBI single to left, plating Aranda and Lunsford to get within two, 5-3.
 
UIW pushed the lead back to three in the top of the sixth on Mendoza's RBI single to bring in Caley, going up 6-3.
 
The pitching settled in until the bottom of the eighth inning when Haggard hit a leadoff home run, his fourth of the season, to get within two, 6-4.
 
However, UIW answered with an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning as Sherrell's RBI single plated Gregson for the 7-4 lead as the Cardinals held on for the win to even the series.