MONROE, La. – Georgia Southern swept a doubleheader from ULM, 9-4 and 6-3, to sweep the season series on Saturday at Lou St. Amant Field.
ULM returns to action at 6 p.m. Wednesday vs. Stephen F. Austin.
GAME 1
Georgia Southern's Cade Parker hit a bases-clearing double in the second inning for the 3-0 lead as the Eagles never looked back in a 9-4 win.
Sean White and Kent Schmidt added solo home runs in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, for the 5-0 lead. Josh Tate added an RBI single in the seventh to extend the lead to 6-0.
ULM used five straight hits with two outs in the seventh inning to get back in the game.
Jake Haggard started the rally with a double and
Jack Clark followed with an RBI single to score Haggard.
Matt Abshire then singled through the right side before
Hasani Johnson hit a 2-RBI double down the left field line to make it 6-3.
Easton Winfield's RBI single ended the stretch, cutting the gap to 6-4.
However, the Eagles answered in the eighth inning as Sean Smith hit a two-out RBI single to push the lead back to three, 7-4. Jarrett Brown drew a bases-loaded walk and Sam Blancato hit a sacrifice fly to put the Eagles up 9-4 in the ninth.
Shawn Dalton Weatherbee and Clark had two hits each to lead ULM, while Johnson had two RBIs. Tate and Schmidt each had two hits with an RBI, while Parker drove in three runs for Georgia Southern.
Jacob Phillips (3-3) entered from the bullpen for Georgia Southern after just five pitches from starting pitcher Porter Buursema, who exited after issuing a walk with four of the pitches going to the backstop. Phillips threw 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts to earn the win.
Beau Blanchard (2-5) took the loss for ULM, allowing five runs on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts over five innings in the start.
GAME 2
Georgia Southern's Ty Fisher and ULM's
Chipper Menard engaged in a pitchers' duel through six innings, but the Eagles put together five runs against the Warhawk bullpen over the seventh and eighth innings to pull away for a 6-3 win.
Menard (2-2) threw six innings, a season high for any ULM pitcher, allowing one run on six hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. Georgia Southern's JD Kaiser hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to give the Eagles the 1-0 lead.
With Menard out of the game in the seventh inning, the Eagles went to work, picking up a 3-run home run from Cade Parker to open a 4-0 lead. TJ McKenzie added a 2-RBI double in the eighth for the 6-0 advantage.
ULM (20-28 overall, 7-17 Sun Belt Conference) finally started to solve Georgia Southern (26-21, 15-9) starting pitcher Ty Fisher (6-5) in the ninth inning, picking up back-to-back singles from
Bryce Blaser and
Easton Winfield to chase Fisher from the game. Fisher threw eight-plus innings, allowing two runs on six hits with no walks and four strikeouts.
The Warhawks loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth.
Michelle Artzberger earned an RBI when he was hit by a pitch, while
Marcus Aranda and
Jack Clark each picked up RBIs on groundouts to get within 6-3. However, Georgia Southern's Jake Martin recorded the final out to end the game.
Blaser had three of ULM's seven hits. Tate and McKenzie had three hits each for Georgia Southern, with McKenzie picking up two RBIs. Parker had three RBIs for the second-straight game.
