Tulane Green Wave Baseball Claims Series Victory over East Carolina
The Tulane Green Wave baseball team defeated the East Carolina Pirates in the finale of a three-game series that was, unlike the other two games, normal.
The Green Wave (26-18, 10-8 in AAC) beat the Pirates (25-19, 10-8), 7-2 in Greenville, N.C.
This game after two games that became blowouts and featured huge innings for the winning team. Tulane won the first game on Friday, 20-5, while East Carolina responded with a 15-5 win on Saturday. Both games were run-rule contests due to the 10-run mercy rule.
The Green Wave flipped the script by starting their closer, Michael Lombardi, for just the third time this season. He set the tone with 4.1 innings of work in which he only allowed one run on four walks and three hits. He also struck out five. He received a no-decision.
The junior, who also plays in the field and has nine saves this season, was named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List.
Tulane already had the lead when Lombardi left the game in the fifth, though he left a mess for reliever Carter Benbrook (2-0) to clean up. He escaped from a two-on, one out jam and ended up tossing 2.2 innings of scoreless relief. The Green Wave never trailed after that.
The Green Wave took the lead, 2-0, with a run in each of the first two innings. Connor Rasmussen hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning and Hugh Pinkney scored on a passed ball in the second inning.
The Pirates cut the lead to a run in the fourth inning on Jack Herring's home run. But Tulane pushed it back to two runs in the fifth on James Agabedis III run, which came off a wild pitch.
From there, the Green Wave extended their lead, in part due to two-run home run by Tanner Chun. Rasmussen also had two hits, one of which was a two-run home run. He finished the game with three RBI.
Pinkney picked up two hits, along with his run scored on the passed ball.
Tulane’s first win of the series saw the Green Wave scored 20 or more runs in a game for the first time since March 1, 2022, when they beat Southeastern, 23-1.
Tulane returns to Greer Field at Turchin Stadium to host Nicholls on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. This coming weekend the Green Wave hosts FAU for a three-game series starting on Friday.
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Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers Major League Baseball for OnSI. He also covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.