MONROE, La. – Henry Garcia Jr. delivered the walk-off base hit to lift the ULM baseball team over Northwestern State, 6-5, in a comeback, extra-innings victory on Tuesday (April 8) at Lou St. Amant Field.
 
ULM (15-18, 3-9 Sun Belt) fell behind early as Northwestern State (20-13, 12-6 Southland) scored the first run of the game in the top of the third inning. With two outs in the inning, the Demons strung three hits in a row and managed to score the first run of the day on an infield hit by Rocco Gump. Warhawks' starter Brennan Eager completed his outing with his fifth strikeout of the day and allowed three hits and one earned run in a no-decision. NSU starting pitcher Kevin Robinson completed his third perfect inning and the visitors led 1-0 after three innings.
 
Zach Shaw entered the game in relief and tossed a 1-2-3 top of the fourth inning with a strikeout. Isaiah Walker led off the top of the fourth with his second home run of the season on a drive that bounced off the glove of the NSU right fielder Colin Rains and cleared the right field wall that tied the game. The Warhawks rallied with two outs after walks drawn by Henry Garcia Jr. and Michelle Artzberger that kept the inning alive and led to an RBI base hit by Kade Dupont to give ULM a 2-1 lead through four innings. The first two Demons reached safely on a hit by pitch and a single in the fifth. Artzberger fired to third on an NSU bunt attempt to cut down the runner advancing for the first out. Shaw pitched a pair of fly outs and NSU stranded a pair of runners in scoring position in the fifth.

Walker smoked a ball in the right-center field gap for a two-out double and his second extra-base hit of the day in a scoreless fifth. The Demons reclaimed the lead in the top of the sixth when Daniel Burroway hit a two-run home run to left. Shaw bounced back with two strikeouts to keep ULM within one. Bryce Blaser legged out a double to start the bottom half of the sixth and Garcia Jr. kept the line moving with a walk. The Demons turned two on a line out double play and recorded the last out on a fly out and clung to a 3-2 lead after six.


In the seventh inning, Aidan Haynes limited damage after the Demons loaded the bases with one out and ULM trailed by one at the stretch. NSU reliever Carter White threw a scoreless inning in the bottom of the seventh. NSU padded its lead in the top of the eighth following RBI hits by Reese Lipoma and Gump. Walker trimmed ULM's deficit to two runs after launching his second solo home run of the day to start the bottom of the eighth. Josh Gregoire held the Demons scoreless in the top of the ninth and ULM was behind by two runs heading into the bottom of the ninth frame.

With one out in the ninth, Dupont watched four pitches out of the strike zone and reached first, bringing the tying run to the plate. On an 0-2 pitch, Jake Haggard lofted a base hit to right and advanced to second base on an error by the NSU right fielder. Colby Lunsford whittled the NSU lead to one run after driving in pinch runner Jack Clark on an RBI ground out for the second out of the inning. With ULM down to its final strike, Major Brignon lined a clutch base hit to right field and scored pinch runner Ben Coke to even the score, 5-5, and forced extra innings.

Gregoire quieted the NSU bats and fired a 1-2-3 top of the 10th inning. With one away in the bottom of the 10th, Blaser doubled down the line for his second double of the game and his fifth double in his last four games. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Garcia Jr. served a fastball to right field that allowed Blaser to slide in safely at the plate ahead of the throw to seal the walk-off, comeback victory for the Warhawks.

In addition to the walk-off hit, Garcia Jr. reached base on two walks and scored a run. Walker became the third Warhawk to swing for two home runs in a game this season, joining Jackson Landry (Feb. 28 at Missouri State) and Garcia Jr. (March 15 at James Madison) and recorded his ninth game finishing with three or more hits, which leads the team. Blaser finished with two hits for the seventh time this season. On the mound, Gregoire earned his first win in a ULM uniform after tossing 2.1 innings and striking out three, allowing two hits and zero earned runs.

With the ULM win on Tuesday, the all-time series between ULM and Northwestern State is now tied, 116-116.

The Warhawks will travel to Northwestern State tomorrow (April 9) to complete the double midweek versus the Demons at 6 p.m. from Brown-Stroud Field in Natchitoches.