The ULM baseball team hosted the Arkansas State Red Wolves on April 17-19 at Lou St Amant Field. After a very close few games, and only a five-run difference between them, the Warhawks lost the series 1-2.
All three games were relatively low scoring, but in the first game, the Warhawks came out blazing with two runs in the first, courtesy of Jake Haggard stealing home and a Marcus Aranda RBI. ASU, however, responded in the second inning, when Cason Campbell homered to right field, cutting the lead in half.
The game remained stagnant until the fifth inning, when ASU scored on a failed pickoff attempt, then a single from Lane Walton scored another run, giving the Red Wolves the lead. ASU kept that lead for the rest of the game, ending at 2-3, Red Wolves.
In the second game, ULM came out hot again, with Bryce Blaser homering to right field, giving the Warhawks an early 2-0 lead. This time though, ASU didn’t respond immediately.
It wasn’t until the fifth inning when ASU scored on a wild pitch, scoring Kaden Amundson. In the eighth inning, the Red Wolves scored again after Ashton Quiller was hit by a pitch, evening the game at 2-2.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Micah Dean stepped up to bat in a tie game, and sent a deep fly ball to left field, walking the game off with his fifth home run of the season, ending the game at 3-2.
In the third and final game, both ULM and ASU scored one run in the first inning, keeping the trend.
After the first though, it was all Red Wolves, scoring in the third, fourth and eighth inning, each with one run. This ended the game at 1-4 and series at 1-2.
ULM’s inability to keep momentum going further into the game is what is going to keep them from crossing the threshold of top of the conference. This is a talented team with experience with each other, but not being able to keep the bats rolling in the later innings is what is going to keep them from being middle of the conference.
The Warhawks play their next series at home against James Madison University on April 24-26.
