The Warhawks continue to struggle to get off the ground in Sun Belt play. After their first conference series win in over a year versus Arkansas State and hard fought games versus national powerhouse Baylor, ULM hoped to keep the momentum going last weekend against the #28 Florida Atlantic Owls. However, it was not meant to be as the series ended in a 2-1 victory for FAU.
“We take every loss hard,” said third baseman Judd Edwards. “You take it hard. You want to win, but at the same time, once the day is over you have to get over it and get on to the next one.”
The two teams split the first two games of the series. After losing game one 9-7, pitcher Randy Zeigler (4-4) struck out 11, and the Warhawks offense put on a show to win the second game 13-5.
The rubber match on Sunday proved to be the decider. FAU got on the board early with four runs. ULM then battled back to take the lead 5-4, but Florida Atlantic added two runs of their own in the sixth inning to make it 6-5 and thus ending the Warhawks’ chance at winning their second straight conference series, as that would be the final score.
“They took advantage of our mistakes,” said head coach Jeff Schexnaider. “We made two errors to extend the inning, and good teams take advantage of it. They executed and got four in the first. We had chances in the eighth, and they made some good plays again. Our guys are playing hard, and we have to continue that and play a complete game.”
Edwards was a big part of the offense for the Warhawks in the series by going 5-6 in the last two games with 4 RBIs and a walk. He was also hit by pitch for the 16th time this season.
“Baseball is a lot about scouting reports, so every pitcher is going to pitch you differently,” explained Edwards. “I have no idea honestly why I’m getting hit by pitches this year. They come inside. I don’t move. I let it hit me to try and get on base.”
The loss left the Warhawks (17-19, 5-10 SBC) at the bottom of the conference standings. The Warhawks are running out of time to turn the season around. With a little more than a month to play in the season and only five more conference series remaining, there is little room for error.
“As other teams wear down, we are getting stronger I hope,” Schexnaider said. “We’ve got a lot of confidence even though the wins aren’t going our way. We’re playing good baseball, and we just keep grinding and hope it turns around.”
