Warhawks knock off No. 6 TCU, 4-3

FORT WORTH, Texas – Trace Henry’s throw from right field to the plate with two outs in the ninth inning was right on target as catcher Logan Wurm slid over and applied the tag on Luke Boyers just before Boyers slid across home plate, preserving ULM’s 4-3 win over No. 6 TCU to open the series Friday night at Lupton Stadium.

Cam Barlow, Trey Lindsay and Carson Orton came one out shy of the 16th no-hitter in ULM history. Barlow (7-4) threw five scoreless and hitless innings with five walks and three strikeouts. Lindsay tossed 3 1/3 innings, allowing three unearned runs on no hits. Orton earned his seventh save over the final 2/3 of an inning.

Barlow said his adrenaline helped him perform at his best.

“That’s a good ball club down there,” Barlow said. “I couldn’t miss much. I feel like I tried to do too much at times and lost my command, but I credit my defense and my offense. If I didn’t have them, I wouldn’t have been very good at all.”

Wurm said his pitchers did a good job of working ahead and trusting their catcher.

“They were getting ahead with fastballs early and they were not throwing stuff right over the middle of the plate,” Wurm said. “They were locating down and away and letting me work with my mitt and stealing some calls. It worked all the way until the ninth.”

ULM led 4-0 entering the top of the ninth inning with the no-hitter intact. TCU’s Brayden Taylor worked a leadoff walk against Lindsay and moved to third when Connor Shepherd reached on an error. After Gray Rodgers struck out for the first out of the inning, Phillip Sikes was hit by a pitch to load the bases. ULM head coach Michael Federico elected to bring Carson Orton out of the bullpen, but he allowed a walk to Boyers to force in a run and cut the gap to 4-1. Bobby Goodloe grounded out to first base, unassisted, for the second out, bringing in Shepherd to make the score 4-2, but put ULM one out away from the no-hitter. Tommy Sacco then lined a ball through the right side for TCU’s first hit of the game, bringing home Sikes. Boyers tried to follow right behind, but Henry hit Wurm in time to apply the tag and end the game, 4-3.

“It was a pretty complete game,” Federico said. “We made one error there late in the game. There’s a lot of anxiety and emotion and stuff that was going on and their crowd really got going. We just walked too many people, which kept them in the game. I’m super proud of our guys to get the win in a hostile environment against a really good TCU team.”

Wurm gave ULM the lead as part of a big offensive night for the senior. Wurm hit a solo home run to left center in the third inning, his second homer of the year, to put the Warhawks up 1-0. Wurm added a single in the fifth inning and hit an RBI double to left center in the sixth to go 3-for-4.

The Warhawks gained cushion in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Mason Holt hit a line drive to center, plating Colby Deaville and Trace Henry to extend the lead to 3-0. Wurm’s double in the sixth put ULM pushed the advantage to 4-0.

TCU had a few scoring chances throughout the game due to the seven walks and two hit batsmen issued by the ULM pitching staff. TCU put runners on second and third in the first inning, but a pop out by Rodgers ended the threat. In the fourth inning, Austin Henry reached third base with one out after a leadoff walk, but Barlow picked up back-to-back strikeouts to close the inning. In the sixth inning, the Frogs put runners on first and third with one out, but Lindsay induced an inning-ending double play.

In addition to Wurm, Mason Holt had two hits and two RBIs.

The two teams close the series with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday at Lupton Stadium. Links to ESPN+ coverage, live audio and stats are available on the baseball schedule page at ULMWarhawks.com.