JONESBORO, Ark. – The ULM offense broke free for seven runs in the sixth inning and a steady performance by the bullpen helped the Warhawks to a 10-7 win over Arkansas State to even up the weekend series Friday night at Tomlinson Stadium.
"It was huge," ULM's Chris Noble said of the win. "Last night, we fell behind early and we weren't quite able to get rallied up and get back in the game. We got in the game early enough tonight to where we could get on top and get the lead and expand and we didn't have to worry as much."
Lucas Wepf (2-0) settled the A-State (18-28 overall, 10-13 Sun Belt Conference) offense down, allowing just one unearned run on two hits with no walks and a career-high six strikeouts over four innings to pick up the win. Carson Orton picked up his eighth save for ULM (25-24, 10-13) after working out of a jam in the ninth inning.
Arkansas State built an early 5-0 lead as Jaylon Deshazier hit a pair of 2-out home runs, belting a 3-run blast to left center in the first inning and a 2-run shot to right in the third.
ULM answered in the top of the fourth inning. Trace Henry led off with a double and scored on Mason Holt's RBI single. Two batters later, Noble belted his third home run of the season, and second of the weekend, to bring the Warhawks back within two, 5-3.
"I was just trying to see the ball down," Noble said. "(A-State starting pitcher Will Nash) spun the ball well my first at bat and he got the best of me. I knew that if he threw me a fastball a little bit lower in the zone, I was going to be able to get my barrel there."
Noble, who played in just his 10th game and recorded his third start, hit his second homer in as many nights and his third on the season. He is 5-for-13 at the plate this season with a double and three home runs. He said Thursday's 3-run home run helped his confidence.
"It more so solidified my confidence," Noble said. "That's been the biggest thing for me this season is my mindset when I do get the opportunities. I think that's helped a lot with my success is just believing in myself and knowing that I can get the job done."
"I was so happy for Chris," ULM head coach Michael Federico said. "He hasn't had a ton of opportunities, but when he has, he's taken advantage of them. He stayed active. He gets his work in and does things day in and day out. To get that 2-run home run right there after the five-run deficit was huge."
Wepf entered the game in the bottom of the fourth inning and retired the first nine Red Wolves he faced.
"I can't say enough about Lucas," Federico said. "He was dotting his fastball and spinning his breaking ball pretty well."
The Warhawks claimed the lead in the big seven-run sixth inning. Henry scored on a wild pitch and an RBI single by Andrew Beesley brough home Holt to tie the game at 5. After Noble was hit by a pitch, Ryan Humeniuk laid down a sacrifice bunt on the right side of the infield. A-State first baseman Jared Toler fielded the ball and threw wildly to third base, allowing Beesley to score to put ULM up 6-5. Travis Washburn picked up an RBI with a bunt single to score pinch runner Ryan Cupit. A balk brought Humeniuk home for the 8-5 lead. Wurm added an RBI single to plate Washburn, and Wurm later scored on a bases loaded walk for Beesley to push the lead to 10-5.
"It was beautiful," Federico said of the inning. "It was just execution of some bunts and putting some pressure on some people in some different ways. That's what happens and sometimes you get the big hit here and there because they're expecting something else."
Wepf struck out the side in the bottom of the sixth inning before two Warhawk errors led to an A-State run in the seventh inning. The Red Wolves loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth inning, but Landon Longsworth induced an inning-ending pop-up to escape the inning with a 10-6 lead.
In the ninth inning, Longsworth allowed a leadoff single to Jake Gish and walked Drew Tipton before Federico brought Orton in out of the bullpen. Orton allowed an RBI double to Liam Hicks to score Gish to cut the lead to 10-7 with runners on second and third with no outs. However, Orton forced Ben Klutts to pop out to second base. Tyler Duncan then hit a sinking line drive to shortstop. Colby Deaville made a sliding, back-handed stop off one hop and threw to first for the out while forcing the runners to hold. Orton then induced Deshazier into the game-ending groundout to preserve the win.
Holt had three hits to lead ULM while Beesley and Noble had two RBIs each. Tipton and Deshazier led A-State with two hits each with Deshazier driving in five runs.
The win leaves a wide array of Sun Belt Conference Championship seeding possibilities open for ULM heading into Saturday's series and regular season finale. The Warhawks can finish as high as the third seed in the West Division or as low as the sixth seed.
First pitch is set for 1 p.m. Saturday. Links to live video, audio and stats are available on the baseball schedule page at ULMWarhawks.com.
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Warhawks Even Up Series at A-State, 10-7 - University of Louisiana Monroe Athletics - ULM Warhawks
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