ULM's slide continues in series loss to Little Rock

Louisiana-Monroe needed a better weekend than the last after dropping two games at Appalachian State.

A crucial Sun Belt Conference series against Little Rock began with a 5-2 win in Game 1 on Friday night at Warhawk Field. But the start was all for naught after the Warhawks (16-23, 6-11 Sun Belt) dropped two games, and the set, to the Trojans (19-20, 11-6 Sun Belt) on Saturday afternoon.

ULM has now dropped back-to-back series in league play and five out of six games overall.

“You have to find ways to win series if you want to get to postseason and it seems like we’re finding ways to lose games sometimes,” ULM coach Michael Federico said. “I don’t know what the formula is but we’re searching for some things and trying to move the lineup around and we just couldn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had in both games.”

All the same problems of late — bad relief pitching, inconsistent at-bats, unforced errors — were on display. Little Rock compounded the situation with the long ball, hitting four home runs that accounted for seven runs in both games.

To make matters worse, bad luck cost the Warhawks a run that would have tied Game 2 in the bottom of the seventh inning. Third base coach Matt Collins was called for interference after making contact with Joey Jordan.

“Coach Collins was yelling at Bell to stop at second and I think Joey just got a little confused,” Federico said.  “It’s something we work on in practice and they just ran into each other.”

Little Rock’s Garrett Scott belted a two-run homer in the top of the eighth and Riley Pittman added a solo shot in the ninth of a 7-3 win over ULM in Game 2.

“We walked a few guys there in the first game and don’t make a couple plays defensively that hurt us,” Federico said. “We were in each game and at one point had the bases loaded and nobody out with our two guys up in Tingelstad and Bell. You think that it’s our moment and instead we didn’t get it done.”

Ty Barnes (3-2) left the mound after allowing five hits and three earned runs with three strikeouts in 4.0 innings. The bullpen gave up four earned runs over the next 4.1 innings before Miles Dunn finished the game.

ULM fell in Game 3 after Riley Pittman smashed a three-run homer in the top of the third. After Klepzig and Barrett singled to start the bottom of the third, a Chad Bell RBI gave the Warhawks their first run.

Bell hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eight to cut Little Rock’s lead to 3-2. Representing the tying run, Humeniuk doubled with two outs before pinch hitter Brendan Jordan struck out swinging on the next at-bat.

The Trojans padded their lead with a Christian Reyes solo home run in the top of the ninth in a 4-2 win over the Warhawks.

Kayleb Sanderson (2-3) picked up the loss, pitching 5.0 innings and striking out three to go along with two hits and two earned runs.

ULM begins a four-game road stretch at Southern on Tuesday, April 23, at 6 p.m. before starting a Sun Belt set at Arkansas State on Friday, April 26, at 6:30 p.m.

“We’re so close and it’s frustrating because we’re right in it,” Federico said. “Somebody’s got to step up in those moments and it’s hard because there’s not a person on our team who’s been to postseason, so you’re trying to teach them all that.”

“We’ve got guys that have been successful in junior college and won national championships but learning how to win a three-game series is different.”

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