MONROE, La. – Texas State (12-5, 0-1 Sun Belt) fell behind early and ultimately fell 12-6 Friday night to ULM (10-9, 1-0 Sun Belt) from Lou St. Amant Field in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams.
 
"I thought ULM came out and had a really good plan and executed in the box. We got behind early, fought back and had some good two-out RBI. We just have to play better baseball," said head coach Steven Trout. "Mistakes get magnified especially in conference play and on the road. We have to flush it at midnight and go win a game tomorrow to get his series tied back up."
 
Picking up the win was Adam Tubbs (2-1) after he threw 3.2 innings of relief and allowed just one run on one hit and three walks. Kyle Froehlich (2-1) surrendered seven runs, four of them earned, on nine hits in two innings to take the loss.
 
Alizaeh Gutierrez tossed three shutout and hitless innings in relief with one strikeout. Recording two strikeouts apiece was Will Canalichio and Shaen Connell.
 
Both Brady Boles and Tanner Carson recorded two hits on the night. Carson plated two runs along with Clayton Namken. Finishing with an RBI apiece was Chase Mora and Boles.
 
The Warhawks struck their first time at the plate with three runs. All of them came after a Bobcat error with two outs. The hosts would tack on three more runs in the second and another in the third to go up 7-0.
 
In the fourth, TXST would send eight batters to the plate with three of them coming around to score. All of the runs were on two-out singles from Boles, Carson and Mora.
 
In the sixth, Mora drew a walk with one out. He would advance to third on a Boles's single to right that saw the right fielder misplay the ball. The senior would come home when Carson reached on a fielder's choice via a slow chopper to the third baseman to cut the deficit to 7-4.
 
ULM would respond with four runs in the bottom of the frame to go back up by seven.
 
Jaquae Stewart was hit by the first pitch to him in the ninth. Manny Salas just missed a home run and ended up with a double to put two in scoring position. Two batters later, Namken hit a 0-1 pitch to the right centerfield gap that plated the final two runs of the contest.
 
Game two of the series is scheduled for a 6 p.m. first pitch on Saturday.
 
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