MONROE, La. – The ULM baseball team grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first inning but the Ragin' Cajuns scored six unanswered runs to seize the momentum and went on to claim game one of the Sun Belt Conference series, 9-3, on Friday (April 11) night at Lou St. Amant Field.

The Ragin' Cajuns (17-20, 8-5 Sun Belt) totaled 12 hits and three extra-base hits in Friday night's win. ULM (16-19, 3-10) racked up eight hits, but the Cajuns held the Warhawks to hit 3-for-19 with runners on base, with ULM leaving 10 runners on base. The Cajuns hit 8-for-21 with runners on and left nine runners on base.
 
Warhawks' starter Joey Cirelli struck out two in his first inning of work to hold the Cajuns scoreless in the first frame. Isaiah Walker pulled into second base with a stand-up double for ULM's first hit of the night. A well-placed bunt by Kade Dupont resulted in a base hit that put runners at the corners with no outs. The Cajuns snagged a liner off the bat of Bryce Blaser that turned into a double play. Henry Garcia Jr. came through with his 34^th RBI of the season on a base hit to left that scored Walker for the game's first run. The Cajuns plated a pair of runs in the second inning to take the lead on an RBI base hit by Lee Amedee and an RBI groundout by Jose Torres. In the third inning with a runner on first, Conor Higgs belted a home run that sailed over the left-field wall and extended the visitors' lead, 4-1. Walker reached base for the second time on a hit by pitch and Bryce Blaser drew a walk in the bottom half of the third, but Cajuns' starter Chase Morgan held ULM scoreless for the second-straight inning.
 
After Cirelli pitched a scoreless top of the fourth, Major Brignon singled in the bottom of the inning with two outs before the Morgan recorded the final out on a groundout. With one out in the top of the fifth and runners on the corners, Caleb Stelly flied out to Garcia Jr., who initially cut down Higgs at the plate for the final out. The Cajuns challenged the call, which was overturned by replay review which led to Stelly's 19^th RBI of the season and pushed the lead to 5-1. A two-out RBI single by Amedee scored Griffin Hebert for the Cajuns' second run of the inning. Tony Lindwedel singled and Walker walked to start the bottom of the fifth. Dupont advanced both runners on a sacrifice bunt. On a 2-2 pitch, Bryce Blaser lined a single to left field that scored two and halved the Cajuns' lead. Blaser stole second before Morgan fanned two Warhawks to end the inning. Adam Tubbs recorded a pair of fly outs to conclude the top of the sixth as the Cajuns stranded a runner in scoring position. Brignon singled for the second time of the night and Lindwedel walked in a scoreless sixth for ULM.
 
The Cajuns rallied with two outs in the seventh when Amedee drove in his third run of the night on a double to left that increased the advantage to 7-3. Blaser reached base for the third time with a walk in the seventh. Kasen Bellard scored on an error and Higgs drove in Maddox Mandino on a base hit to left to make the score 9-3. Angelo Aleman singled to begin the bottom of the eighth but was left at first base. Seaver Sheets shut down the Cajuns in the top of the ninth inning and completed his relief appearance tossing 1.2 innings and did not allow a base hit. Reliever Matthew Holzhammer completed the save and worked around a hit by pitch on Dupont in the bottom of the ninth.

The Warhawks continue their series versus the Ragin' Cajuns tomorrow (April 12) at 2 p.m. from The Lou.