MONROE, La. – The ULM baseball team (14-18, 3-9 Sun Belt) wrapped up its home conference series versus App State (16-15, 7-5) with the Mountaineers taking the series 2-1 with a game three win on Sunday (April 6) at Lou St. Amant Field. The Warhawks evened the series with a 13-11 win in the second game that was finished after being suspended on Saturday before App State secured the series win.
 
Game One: ULM 13, App State 11
On Saturday, Daniel Gonzalez pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the first before Isaiah Walker led off the first for ULM. After Kade Dupont moved Walker with a sac bunt and Bryce Blaser singled to third, Henry Garcia Jr. lifted a 371-foot homer over the left center field wall to give ULM an early 3-0 lead. App State answered in the top of the second on a Braxton Church solo home run for the Mountaineers' first run. Gonzalez bounced back by throwing three-straight outs that featured a pair of strikeouts to end the bottom half of the inning. The ULM offense expanded the lead in the bottom of the second inning by plating five runs. Angelo Aleman powered a solo home run on a 1-2 count to start the inning. With runners on the corners and one out, Dupont laid down a bunt that scored Major Brignon for an RBI single that increased the Warhawks' lead to 5-1. Blaser followed by roping a double down the right-field line that allowed Walker and Dupont to score. Garcia Jr. followed with his second RBI knock of the game that scored Blaser, and the Warhawks held an 8-1 lead through two innings. App State loaded the bases with two outs in the third, but Gonzalez forced Church to ground out to keep ULM's lead at seven. Tony Lindwedel lifted his third home run of the season in the third to give the Warhawks a 9-1 cushion after three.
 
After both teams failed to score in the fourth inning, Gonzalez racked up his fourth punchout in a 1-2-3 fifth inning. Lindwedel doubled with two outs in the fifth for his second extra-base hit. App State scored three in the top of the sixth following an RBI single by Juan Correa and a two-RBI double off the bat of Tyler Lichtenberger. Six Warhawks in a row reached base in the bottom half of the inning, starting with singles by Blaser and Garcia Jr. After Michelle Artzberger's second walk of the game, Marcus Aranda drove in Blaser on an infield hit. Aleman walked with the bases loaded and Garcia Jr. crossed home plate for ULM's 11^th run. Brignion capped off the four-run inning for ULM with a two-RBI knock through the right side that scored pinch runner Jack Clark and Artzberger and ULM led by nine after six innings of play. App State scored two off a fielding error by ULM and an RBI base hit by Joseph Zamora before thunderstorms moved into the area and forced play to halt until Sunday afternoon.
 
The Mountaineers trimmed the ULM lead to two runs when play resumed on Sunday when Church doubled home Zamora and Correa scored Kameron Miller on a sacrifice fly. RBI hits by Lichtenberger, Tyler Figueroa and Riley Luft whittled the Warhawks' lead to 13-11 before Josh Gregoire assumed pitching duties out of the bullpen and fired a strikeout and the Mountaineers stranded a runner to end the seventh. Blaser and Garcia Jr. singled in the seventh inning to both reach four hits in the game. Gregoire worked around a leadoff single in the top of the eighth, assisted by Lindwedel cutting down Zamora attempting to swipe second base for the final out of the inning. ULM did not reach base in the bottom of the inning and the Warhawks clung to a two-run lead heading to the ninth. App State brought the tying run to the plate after a leadoff walk, but Gregoire slammed the door on the Mountaineers with three consecutive outs that culminated with his fourth strikeout to give ULM a 13-11 victory.
 
Gonzalez was credited with the win and limited the Mountaineers to three runs in 5.1 innings and struck out four, allowing three hits and two walks. Gregoire put out the fire and collected his fourth save of the season in 2.1 innings of work without allowing a run and punching out four. Offensively, the Warhawks generated 16 total hits and five extra-base hit led by Blaser and Garcia Jr. with four hits each. Walker and Lindwedel also finished with multi-hit games.
 
Game Two: App State 17, ULM 5
ULM starter Joey Cirelli struck out two in a three up, three down first inning. The Warhawks struck first when Walker singled and moved to third, scoring on an App State wild pitch with two outs. Both teams managed to record one hit each in a scoreless second inning, with Artzberger reaching on a hit for the Warhawks. The Mountaineers' offense posted seven runs in the top of the third from RBI hits by Zamora and Miller and a two-out grand slam by Figueroa to pull App State ahead, 7-1.
 
Miller delivered another RBI single in the fourth to put App State ahead, 8-1. Garcia Jr. drove a pitch the opposite way with a runner on that cleared the wall for his sixth home run of the season and narrowed the deficit to five runs. App State responded with four runs in the fifth after RBI contributions by Luft on a groundout, Moquin on a triple that scored two and Zamora on an RBI hit. Walker singled for the second time with two outs in the fifth inning and moved to second on an error from a pickoff attempt. Dupont hit a 2-1 pitch over the Mountaineer left fielder for an RBI double that scored Walker. Blaser added a second run for the Warhawks in the fifth with a base hit to right center, scoring Dupont. Adam Tubbs pitched a scoreless frame out of the bullpen in the sixth with Lindwedel catching a Mountaineer attempting to steal second for the third out of the inning. Following three outs for the Warhawks at the plate, the Mountaineers extended the lead to 12 with five runs in the seventh on an RBI hit by Miller, a sacrifice fly by Church, a Lichtenberger RBI double and a Luft RBI hit by pitch. Walker tripled with two outs in the seventh for his third hit of the game but the Warhawks could not cut into App State's lead and the Mountaineers picked up a run-rule win.


Up Next
The Warhawks will play Northwestern State in the first of two consecutive games in a home-and-home series that starts at Lou St. Amant Field on Tuesday (April 8) at 4 p.m.