MONROE, La. – Kade Dupont's bases-clearing double in the bottom of the eighth gave the ULM baseball team its first lead of the night and Josh Gregoire shut the door in the top of the ninth to lead the Warhawks to a 7-6 victory in the series opener versus Old Dominion on Friday (April 25) night at Lou St. Amant Field.

The Warhawks (21-21, 7-12 Sun Belt) went 5-for-13 with runners on base and 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position and held the Monarchs (13-25, 8-11 Sun Belt) to a .143 batting average with runners on base and racked up 13 strikeouts against ODU hitters.
 
After a leadoff single, Daniel Gonzalez avoided damage and recorded a trio of outs to keep the Monarchs off the scoreboard in the top of the first. After ULM was held to no hits in the bottom of the first, Gonzalez punched out his first Monarch in the second inning and tossed another scoreless frame. Michelle Artzberger lined a base hit to right field on an 0-2 count for ULM's first hit of the night and Jake Haggard drew a walk with two outs before ODU starter Ben Moore struck out his first batter as the game remained scoreless after two innings. The Monarchs benefited from a trio of walks in the top of the third to load the bases and Luke Waters cashed in on a two-out, two-RBI single for the first runs of the game. Two more Monarchs scored on a ULM fielding error and the ODU lead ballooned to 4-0 halfway through the third. Moore completed a 1-2-3 bottom of the third and the Warhawks trailed by four after three innings of play.
 
Zach Shaw struck out his second batter of the game to start the fourth and worked around a one-out double without any Monarchs crossing home plate. Artzberger yanked a pitch down the right field line and hustled out a triple with two outs in the ULM fourth inning for his second triple of the season. The Monarchs preserved the shutout and stranded Artzberger at third base. Shaw was sharp in the fifth inning and struck out two batters in a 1-2-3 inning. Major Brignon was hit by a pitch and Tony Lindwedel worked a walk with one out in the bottom of the fifth. Isaiah Walker kept the line moving with a base hit that dropped in front of the right fielder to load the bases. Kade Dupont drove in the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly to right that scored Brignon. ULM left the bases loaded, and the Monarchs held a 4-1 lead after five. ODU capitalized on ULM's second error of the game in the sixth and scored an unearned run to push the lead back to four. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Haggard singled to left and Brignon doubled off the wall to right to put two runners in scoring position for ULM. On a 1-2 pitch, Lindwedel lined a pitch over the outstretched glove of an ODU infielder that scored both runners and trimmed the Monarchs' lead to two runs. Walker brought the Warhawks within one run with ULM's fourth hit of the inning with two outs and plated Lindwedel to cap off a three-run sixth for the home team.

ODU pushed across a run in the top of the seventh inning and took a two-run lead. After a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh, Landon Grigg entered the game and erased a leadoff single with a pickoff at first. He followed the pickoff by firing a pair of punchouts to end the inning. Barham White started the bottom half of the inning with a base hit to center. ULM loaded the bases with two outs when Dupont stepped up to the plate. Dupont drilled an 0-1 pitch into the corner down the line in left that allowed all three Warhawks to score and instantly gave ULM the lead for the first time the entire game. Gregoire entered the game in the ninth and shut ODU's chances of climbing back into the game with a 1-2-3 inning that featured two strikeouts to end the game.

Walker and Artzberger both registered multi-hit games and each tallied an extra-base hit. Dupont accumulated four RBIs while Lindwedel totaled two. Haggard and Brignon added one hit apiece as the Warhawks racked up nine hits. On the mound, Grigg was credited with his first win as a Warhawk after pitching the eighth inning. Shaw sat down six Monarchs on strikeouts and allowed just one earned run in 4.1 innings pitched. Gonzalez surrendered two earned runs in 2.2 innings pitched and struck out three.

Game two of the series between the Warhawks and Monarchs is tomorrow at 2 p.m. from Lou St. Amant Field.