Tulane Green Wave Baseball Falls to East Carolina After Run-Scoring Binge
One night after dropping 20 runs on the East Carolina Pirates, the Tulane Green Wave fell in Game 2 of the series, 15-5, on Saturday.
The Green Wave were down, 3-2, after the first inning, and took the lead, 5-4, after three innings. But the Pirates scored six runs in the fourth inning and took the lead for good. Due to the mercy rule, the game lasted eight innings.
In the opener of the series, the Green Wave won, 20-5. Per Guerry Smith of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the last time Tulane scored 20 or more runs in a game was March 1, 2022, when it beat Southeastern, 23-1. The Green Wave's largest margin of victory against ECU was 10, 14-4 in 2003.
Tulane had just five hits on Saturday, with Gavin Schulz slamming a home run for the second straight game as part of a 1-for-3 game. He drove in two runs and scored two runs. The other four hits came from Jason Wachs, Matthias Haas, Theo Bryant IV and Jackson Linn.
Trey Cehajic started the game for the Green Wave and allowed four runs in 2.2 innings, but he came away with a no-decision. Reliever Tayler Montiel (4-1) took his first loss of the season in relief as he gave up all six of ECU’s runs in the fourth inning. All six were earned runs and, before Saturday, he had only given up four earned runs for the season.
In Friday’s game, Green Wave starter Luc Fladda (3-4) didn’t need much run support, but he gave up five runs in seven innings with three strikeouts to earn his third win of the season and first complete game. The game ended after seven innings due to the mercy rule.
Schulz had a huge game for the Green Wave, as he hit a home run as part of his three hits, while scoring four runs and driving in four runs. Kaikea Harrison also hit a home run as he finished with three hits, four runs and three RBI.
Michael Lombardi hit a grand slam to drive in four runs. Earlier this week, Lombardi was named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List.
Entering the Pirates series, he was 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA. He appeared in 17 games and 22.2 innings and has given up just 11 hits while striking out 45.
He leads the conference in saves and ranks fifth nationally.
Lombardi was named the AAC Pitcher of the Week on April 7 and has been named to the league's Weekly Honor Roll three times.
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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.