HARRISONBURG, Va. – The ULM baseball team (9-10, 1-2 Sun Belt) split a doubleheader at James Madison (7-12, 2-1) with a 9-3 win in game one and a 6-5 loss in extra innings in game two on Saturday (March 15) at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park.
 
Game 1 | ULM 9, JMU 3
On a 1-2 count with two outs, freshman Jackson Landry ripped an RBI double off the wall in center field that scored Bryce Blaser for the Warhawks' first run. Henry Garcia Jr. followed with another clutch two-out double to left field that plated Landry, and ULM generated an early 2-0 lead. After issuing a leadoff walk, freshman starting pitcher Ashton Bassett settled in and recorded three consecutive outs to end the first. Michelle Artzberger continued ULM's strong hitting with two outs and lifted his third home run of the season and increased the lead to 3-0. Bassett navigated around a leadoff double and recorded a ground out, a fly out and his first strikeout in a scoreless bottom of the second inning.
 
The Warhawks' offense broke through in a big way with six runs in the top of the third and opened a 9-0 lead. Blaser began the inning with a walk and advanced on a wild pitch to second. After an Isaiah Walker walk and a Landry hit by pitch to load the bases, Garcia Jr. delivered his second RBI knock of the game with a two-RBI single through the left side that scored Blaser and Walker. With two outs and the bases loaded, Artzberger picked up another RBI after taking a hit by pitch and extending ULM's lead to six. Colby Lunsford followed with a walk that scored Garcia Jr. for the Warhawks' fourth run of the inning. Blaser completed the offensive outburst for ULM with a two-RBI base hit that scored Tony Lindwedel and Artzberger. The Dukes scored one in the third from a Wyatt Peifer RBI double. Bassett limited the damage with two strikeouts and the Dukes stranded a pair of runners in scoring position, and ULM led 9-1 through three.
 
Both teams went down in order in the fourth inning with Bassett racking up his fourth strikeout to end the inning. After a scoreless fifth inning for ULM, Bassett completed his fifth inning and worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Dukes from crossing home plate. Joey Cirelli assumed pitching duties for the Warhawks in the sixth inning and kept ULM in the lead despite a two-run home run by J.P. Williams. After Cirelli tossed a scoreless seventh, Artzberger reached base for the third time with his second hit on a single to left in the eighth. Jacob Billings, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the sixth, singled for ULM's seventh base hit of the game in the ninth. Cirelli completed the save with a 1-2-3 ninth inning and the Warhawks secured their first SBC victory of the season.
 
Garcia Jr. and Artzberger both registered multi-hit and multi-RBI games, combining for four hits, five RBI and three runs scored. Blaser, Billings and Landry all added a base hit for ULM and Blaser produced two RBI. Landry and Lunsford each added an RBI. Bassett earned his first collegiate win and threw five strong innings on the mound, sitting down four Dukes on strikeouts while allowing just two hits and one run. Cirelli surrendered only two runs in four innings for his first save of the season.
 
The Warhawks capitalized on six walks and three hit by pitches issued by the JMU pitching staff. JMU left seven runners on base compared to ULM's six. Neither team committed an error in the field.
 
Game 2 | JMU 6, ULM 5 (11 inn.)
Walker immediately gave the Warhawks the lead by sending a 2-1 offering over the wall for a leadoff homer. Warhawks' starting pitcher Daniel Gonzalez struck out the first hitter he faced and sent the Dukes down in order to finish the first inning. Following three groundouts on offense for the Warhawks, Gonzalez recorded another punchout and saw the minimum number of batters in the second. Lindwedel singled to start the third inning for the Warhawks before three consecutive outs. Gonzalez dealt a spotless third inning and ULM held a 1-0 lead through three.
 
With two outs in the top of the fourth, Garcia Jr. launched a moonshot that sailed over the left field wall for ULM's second solo home run of the game. JMU answered in the bottom half of the inning and tied the game on a sacrifice fly by Peifer and a two-out RBI double by Reece Moody. The Dukes took their first lead of the day in the fifth on a Coleman Calabrese solo home run. With a runner on and two outs, Garcia Jr. attacked the first pitch of his at-bat and drilled his second home run of the game that pulled the Warhawks back in front, 4-3. Brandon Brewer came in out of the bullpen in the bottom of the sixth and tossed a scoreless bottom of the sixth.
 
Lindwedel and Kade Dupont roped singles with one out in the seventh before JMU's Max Kuhle collected the final two outs of the inning out of the bullpen. The Dukes recaptured the lead in the bottom of the seventh with a pair of two-out RBI hits by Maddux Fleck and Eli Steadman and led 5-4 after the seventh. Landry lofted a standup triple off the left center field fence to start the eighth. Billings lined a base hit up the middle and tied the game, scoring Landry. Artzberger singled with two outs and moved the go-ahead runner to third base. The Dukes made a play in the field on a fielder's choice and the game remained tied heading to the bottom of the eighth. Josh Gregoire fired two strikeouts out of the bullpen in a perfect eighth inning. After a scoreless top of the ninth, Gregoire again threw a 1-2-3 inning that concluded with his third strikeout and sent the game to extra innings.

The Warhawks went down in order to start extra innings. Gregoire continued to fool JMU hitters and induced a pair of groundouts and recorded his fourth strikeout in the bottom of the 10th. Artzberger smashed his third hit of the game with one out in the 11th on a double to left center. Kuhle ended ULM's scoring threat by pitching a groundout and a strikeout as the game remained even. Gregoire sat down his 10th batter on a strikeout to start the bottom of the 11th. JMU got its first hit off Gregoire when Peifer singled off the glove of Gregoire. A stolen base and a pair of hit by pitches loaded the bases for the Dukes with one out. Aidan Haynes was called out of the bullpen to face Calabrese. On a 3-2 pitch, Calabrese lined a pitch to left field for a sacrifice fly that scored Peifer and JMU prevailed in extra innings to take the SBC opening series.

ULM finished with 11 hits with Artzberger leading the way with three. Garcia Jr. hit his first two home runs as a Warhawk and drove in three. Lindwedel went 2-for-5 while Walker, Landry, Billings and Dupont added base hits. Gonzalez pitched five innings in a no-decision, surrendering three runs on three hits with five strikeouts. Gregoire pitched 3.1 perfect innings and struck out five batters.

ULM travels back to Louisiana and is scheduled to play at Louisiana Tech on Tuesday (March 18) at 6 p.m. from Ruston.