Louisiana-Monroe edged Mississippi Valley State 9-4 Tuesday at Lou St. Amant Field in Monroe, Louisiana. The Warhawks scored five runs in the eighth inning to secure the victory, overcoming a 4-4 tie entering the inning, according to the box score.
Mississippi Valley State, with a 10-19 record and a 6-6 mark in the SWAC, nearly pulled off the upset against the Sun Belt Conference’s Warhawks, who improved to 19-15 and 7-5 in conference play. The teams have met 10 times since 2001, with Louisiana-Monroe winning all encounters.
Gabe Huelsing led Mississippi Valley State offensively, homering, doubling, and singling while scoring two runs. Kendall Brookins went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, including a double and a single. Logan Darnell pitched two scoreless innings, striking out one. Cody Leming added a double and scored a run, while Stephen Landaz contributed a pinch-hit single. Tanner Aoki reached safely twice, once via a hit and once via a hit-by-pitch.
In relief, Lucas Valencia, Camden Farmer, Gage Deutsch, and Eric Torrero each pitched an inning of scoreless baseball, with Valencia and Farmer striking out one batter each. Mississippi Valley State will try to improve to a winning record in SWAC play Friday at 6 p.m. against Bethune-Cookman at home.
The game’s scoring saw Mississippi Valley take an early 4-1 lead, highlighted by Cody Leming’s RBI double and Kendall Brookins’ RBI single. Louisiana-Monroe responded with a three-run homer by Micah Dean in the eighth, followed by three more runs in the bottom of the inning to seal the win.
