Warhawks Drop Game 1 To Trojans
Josh Leone pitched well for 7 innings, but Little Rock capitalized on the few mistakes he made as they took down ULM in game one of the weekend series 5-1.
The wind was blowing hard out to left field all night, and the Trojans were able to take advantage of that in the top of the first inning. Riley Pittman, the Little Rock left fielder and second batter of the game, popped up a pitch that would normally be a routine fly ball. In this game though, it turned into a solo home run that put the Trojans up 1-0 after 1.
The Warhawks were able to get a runner on board in each of the first 3 innings with a single in the first three frames, but were never able to get one of those runners across.
The Trojans took advantage of two ULM mistakes in the top of the 4th to open up the lead. The inning's lead-off batter Dalton Thomas reached base on an error by ULM's 3rd baseman Chad Bell on the first pitch he saw. The next batter, Hunter Owens, was also aggressive on the first pitch as he knocked one over the left field wall to open up the Trojans' lead to 3-0.
The Warhawks got on the board in the bottom of the sixth. After two straight singles by Cade Stone and Turner Francis, Spencer Hemphill hit a blooper to right that was just under the diving glove of the Little Rock right fielder. The hit turned into a double that scored Cade Stone from 2nd and gave ULM runners at 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. A popout and a groundout to the third basemen ended the inning and ULM's best scoring opportunity in the game.
Josh Leone exited the game after 7 innings of work where he recorded 7 strikeouts while only giving up 3 runs (2 earned), 4 hits and 0 walks.
Chase Cater entered the game in the top of the 8th and the Trojans took advantage of more ULM mistakes to open up the lead. Cater hit a batter then threw a pickoff attempt wide for the runner to advance to second. The Warhawks intentionally walked Dalton Thomas to get to Hunter Owens who used the opportunity to hit a double to the wall, scoring two runs and increasing the lead to 5-1.
The Warhawks went down in order in the bottom of the ninth. Little Rock's Cory Malcolm pitched a complete game for the second straight year at Warhawk Field en route to recording the victory.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: SPENCER HEMPHILL recorded 2 hits in four at bats and the only RBI of the game for the Warhawks.
ULM and Little Rock play the second game of their weekend series tomorrow at 2 P.M.