MONROE, La. - South Alabama (22-28, 11-18 SBC) was powered by three home runs and a standout seven innings by Mitchell Heer in a 10-2 win over ULM (22-32, 8-21 SBC).

A lone ULM run in the first was nullified in the top of the second by a Lucas Ismaili solo home run followed shortly by Ty Brooks striking his fourth home run of the season to establish a Jaguar lead that was eventually held onto for the rest of the game.

South Alabama loaded the bases in the fourth inning leading to the first USA grand slam since March of 2023, this one off the bat of Ethan Melton. 

Senior righty Mitch Heer commanded the mound for 7.1 innings, striking out six and giving up only five hits and two runs across his tenure.

The eighth inning gave the Jags another our runs, with two off the bat of Duncan Mathews when he singled to right with the bases loaded, then he followed Rett Johnson to the plate to score the fourth run of the inning after a fielding error.

John Gillis helmed the final 1.2 innings, striking out four of the six batters faced and letting up only one hit. 

Win: Mitchell Heer (7-2)
Loss: Landon Grigg (1-10)

QUOTES
Assistant Coach Matt Hancock

On Mitch Heer's command and execution on the mound: I thought Mitch was
really good. Once again, he's kind of been that way the last seems like two months. You know what you're going to get from him every time he takes the mound. He had a helluva year for us, and he's really pitched well. I thought tonight, great job of minimizing in the first, settled in there for a bit, and then he minimized again-I think it was maybe the fourth or fifth when they squeezed one off of him, but then I thought his stuff got better. I thought his stuff really got better at that point, and his pitch count was in a good spot. That's why we stuck with him. And then Gillis coming in at the end, man, just another kid who's had a great senior season and really proud of both those guys' efforts.

On the bats creating offense: It was good to see our guys be able to generate some offense with the swing and not a lot of help. You know, a lot of times when we get rolling, it's because they have to walk us. And I was saying in the pregame interview that, like, I was hoping that would kind of happen, like we could make their starter work and get to the bullpen, but we got to their bullpen with some big swings, and then it put pressure on them, saying, hey, when I have to pitch, I've got to stay out of the heart of the plate, or they're going to leave the yard on me. So I thought we did a really good job of staying aggressive and not relying on their guy to help us out so it was a good balance of aggression and some really good at bats.

UP NEXT
South Alabama looks to end the regular season with a series victory, facing ULM Saturday at 1 pm.

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