MONROE, La.-Behind a solid
pitching effort by junior Stefan Comeaux and runs in four straight innings, the
Gold Team took a 5-4 victory in game two of the ULM Maroon & Gold Blood
Series on Tuesday night at Warhawk Field. The Gold victory evened the best-of-five
series at a game apiece.
Comeaux allowed three runs on
eight hits with three strikeouts and a pair of walks over six innings of work
to pick up the win.
With the game tied at 2-2,
Skylar Barrentine led off the Gold half of the fifth with a double down the
left-field line. He moved to third on a groundout and scored the go-ahead run
on a fielding error.
Gold increased its lead to 4-2
in the sixth as Josh Gill scored on an infield single by Caleb Clowers. Gill
reached on a one-out single and moved to third on back-to-back walks. Gill and
Kelvin York each had a pair of hits to lead the Gold team - York is now 5-for-6
with four RBIs in the series.
Maroon answered the run in the
bottom of the frame thanks to a pair of defensive miscues by the Gold defense. A
passed ball on a third strike to Shane Ardoin kept the inning alive. He then moved
to second on a wild pitch and scored on a fielding error at first base.
Nick Wade kept the pressure on
for the Gold Team as he led off the seventh with a double down the line in
left. After moving to third on a deep out to right, Wade caught the Maroon defense
napping as he got in a run down and was able to score when nobody covered home.
Maroon pulled within one, 5-4,
in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Ardoin to score Perry Smith
who led off the inning with a walk. Wil Browning retired the final two batters
of the eighth and finished out the game for his first save of the series.
Josh Chappell gave Maroon a
1-0 lead in the first inning with a single through the right side of the infield scoring Boomer
Blanchard, who led off the frame with a single up the middle.
Three straight singles by
Casey Auttonberry, Gill and York tied the game in the top of the second inning.
York put the Gold Team on top 2-1 with his second RBI single of the night, this
one to score Matt Laird who led off the fourth with a double.
Maroon battled right back to
tie the game in the bottom of the frame. After Chappell led off the inning with a
single, Taylor Abdalla was hit by a pitch and Ardoin singled to load the bases
for Chris Sinclair who plated Chappell on a fielder's choice.
Don Williams was saddled with
the loss for Maroon allowing four runs - three earned - on nine hits over 5.2
innings of work.
Game three will take place
Wednesday night at 6 p.m. with James Jones throwing for the Maroon Team and
Jordy Poche for the Gold Team.
