ULM baseball (8-17; 0-6) once again suffered a conference series sweep, this time in a more heartbreaking fashion. 

The Warhawks aimed for their first conference win on the road against Troy (17-7; 3-3). After being swept at home to Old Dominion, ULM responded with a 10-6 midweek win over Louisiana Tech Tuesday night at Lou St. Amant Field. Before the series started, game three was moved to Saturday for a doubleheader.

Friday night couldn’t have started much worse for the Warhawks. The Trojans, with an RBI double and a three-run homer, went up 4-0 in the bottom of the first. Troy added on with an RBI single in the second to make it 5-0. 

ULM didn’t stay down for long. A single by Matt Abshire and a sacrifice bunt by Carson Jones scored two runs for the Warhawks, putting them back in the game. ULM plated two more in the top of the fifth, with an RBI triple by Jake Haggard and a sacrifice fly by Cardell Thibodaux, to make it a 5-4 ballgame. 

The Trojans responded with a two-run bomb in the eighth to make it a 7-4 game. ULM scored a run in the ninth, but a groundout to the shortstop ended the rally. 

“The name of the game today was extra-base hits with the home runs and doubles that we gave up,” head coach Michael Federico said. “I thought we backed them against the wall a few times, but we just couldn’t get the big hit when we needed to.” 

ULM started game one of the doubleheader on fire. A Thibodaux sac-fly scored Sean Weatherbee in the top of the first, and a single by Jones in the second scored Travis Washburn to make it 2-0. Jones scored later in the inning on a wild pitch. 

The Trojans waited until the fourth to respond, as they hit a two-run homer to make the score 3-2. A sac-fly in the fifth tied the game 3-3. The game was won in the sixth with four runs scored by the Trojans. The deficit was too large, and Troy won 7-5. 

The second game featured three scoreless innings to start. In the fourth, the two teams traded blows, with the Warhawks leading 3-2 to start the fifth. Troy took the lead in the seventh with a two-run homer. For the third game in a row, the Warhawks’ rally was thwarted, and the Trojans completed the sweep.