ULM baseball traveled to South Alabama this past weekend for a conference matchup. After a hard-fought few days, ULM ended up losing the series 1-2, making their record 14-11.
In the first game, South Alabama came out swinging, scoring three in the first inning, and giving them all of the momentum. The rest of the game was very back and forth, ending 4-5, Jaguars.
ULM wouldn’t get on the board till the third inning, after Micah Dean grounded out to shortstop, but scoring Jackson Landry. Also in the third, Bryce Blaser singled to right-center, scoring Garrett Wiethorn. Although the Warhawks stole some momentum back, South Alabama immediately responded in the third, after a homerun from Stewart Puckett.
Scoring would yield for the next few innings, until the sixth, when Landry homered to right field, putting the Warhawks within one point. In the seventh, Marcus Aranda singled to right field, scoring Jake Haggard and tying the game going into the last innings.
In the ninth, ULM couldn’t find any luck and didn’t score. However, South Alabama didn’t shy away from the walk-off opportunity when Paxton Bigby sent a single down the right field line, scoring Brennon Wright to win the game.
In the second game, ULM came out hot to start. In the first, Aranda reached first on a fielding error and scored Blaser. In the second, Dean singled to right-center and scored Wiethorn.
The fourth and fifth had a little more action, with both teams scoring during the stretch. Wiethorn scored again in the fourth, after a sacrifice fly from Blaser. In the fifth, Aranda homered to left field, then Kade Dupont scored after a single to left field from Davis Mauzy, making the score 5-1, ULM.
In the fifth and sixth, South Alabama scored three runs to make it a one-point game. ULM responded, however, in the seventh, after Blaser hit a sacrifice fly to score Wiethorn. Later in the inning, Haggard doubled to center field and scored Dean. Right after, Aranda singled to right field, scoring Haggard.
In the eighth, Mauzy shot a triple to right field and scored Landry, making it a 9-6 game after Bigby from South Alabama hit a homer to left field. There would be no scoring in the ninth, ending the game at 9-6, ULM.
The last game of the series was a bloodbath for South Alabama, beating ULM out of the gate and never slowing down. The final score ended at 4-16, Jaguars.
ULM tried to take all the momentum from South Alabama in the first, after two runs were scored from a stolen base and a sacrifice fly. However, the Jaguars were not fazed, ending the first inning with six runs batted in.
There was still hope for ULM at this point when Mauzy singled and scored Landry. South Alabama didn’t like the Warhawks trying to stay in the game, so Blake Guerin homered to left field, scoring three runs and putting the Warhawks down six.
The rest of the game was all South Alabama, other than a homer in the fourth from Zach White. The Jaguars kept adding on to their lead for the rest of the game, until the officials called it in the fifth and ended the game at 4-16.
The Warhawks will take on Northwestern State on Tuesday, March 24, before their series against the Ragin’ Cajuns this weekend for an intra-conference matchup.
