Louisiana Powers Past ULM To Extend Win Streak To 14
LAFAYETTE – Kyle DeBarge belted a pair of home runs while Trey LaFleur and John Taylor added solo homers as Louisiana extended the nation’s longest win streak to 14 games with a 7-4 victory over in-state opponent ULM in a Sun Belt Conference game on Saturday afternoon at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field at Russo Park.
Chase Morgan pitched a season-long 5.1 innings and scattered four hits to earn his second straight victory on the mound as Louisiana (23-8, 10-1 SBC) equaled its longest consecutive win streak – both overall and in SBC play (10 games) – since 2014.
The final game of the three-game series is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with fans able to listen to the game in the Lafayette area on KPEL-FM (96.5) and worldwide on the Varsity Network app.
Louisiana’s top three hitters – Taylor, LaFleur and DeBarge – combined to finish 5-for-10 at the plate with four home runs and six runs scored. LaFleur gave Louisiana an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first with his fourth home run of the season before DeBarge led off the fourth with a solo blast off ULM starter Beau Blanchard (1-3).
Taylor and DeBarge each smacked two-run homers in the fifth as Louisiana built a 7-1 lead before ULM (15-16, 3-8 SBC) capitalized on a pair of errors to score two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh to stay within striking distance.
“We win more ugly games than we win pretty ones,” head coach Matt Deggs said. “If you’re looking to see flawless baseball, don’t come here. What you will see is a bunch of guys that play hard with a lot of heart and passion and grit and just to compete.
“The long ball aided us today. I wouldn’t have thought it with the wind blowing in the way it is, but the big dogs at the top of the lineup carried us a little bit today.”
DeBarge, who recorded his third multi-homer game of the season – finished 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored as Louisiana improved to 15-4 at home. Taylor, who had a 17-game hit streak and 28-game streak of reaching base broken in Friday’s 4-1 victory, was 1-for-4 with LaFleur finishing 1-for-2 with a walk.
Jose Torres added a pair of hits for the Ragin’ Cajuns while Caleb Stelly posted a third-inning single as Louisiana collected eight hits off four Warhawk pitchers.
Morgan (3-1) allowed a run in the third on Sean Weatherbee’s RBI grounder before the Warhawks plated a pair of runs in the sixth on Colby Lunsford’s RBI triple and Easton Winfield’s RBI single.
David Christie struck out two batters in 1.2 innings of work before Matthew Holzhammer pitched the final 2.0 innings of hitless relief to earn his fourth save of the season.
“All of his pitches were competitive, we’re not talking big misses,” Deggs said of Holzhammer, who fell behind 3-and-1 to his first hitter before getting a grounder to second. “We were able to get back in the strike zone. He’s had a little thing going where he kind of tickled the (strike) zone and walk that first hitter. I thought that was gigantic … him coming back and getting that first out and he was able to settle in.”
Blanchard took the loss for ULM after surrendering three runs on five hits in 4.0 innings. Chipper Menard, who pitched at Louisiana in 2021-22 before transferring to ULM, was charged with four runs on two hits in 1.0 inning of work before Aiden Haynes and Dalton Hitt combined to hold the Ragin’ Cajuns to one hit over the final 3.0 innings.
Right-hander Carson Fluno (1-0, 3.32 ERA) will earn the start in Sunday’s finale for Louisiana with ULM countering with right-hander Justin Robinson (2-0, 4.82 ERA).
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