Tulane Green Wave Baseball Suffers Walk-off Loss to Pepperdine Waves

The Tulane Green Wave baseball team were locked in a pitchers’ duel in their series opener with the Pepperdine Waves.

Tulane pitcher Luc Fladda on the mound for an eight-inning outing against Nicholls at the 2024 Corvallis Regional. | Tulane Athletics

The Pepperdine Waves’ Joe Cardinale drove in the game-winning run on a single in the ninth inning to claim a walk-off win over the Tulane Green Wave on Friday.

The game, played in Malibu, Calif., was the first of a four-game trip to the west coast — three games against the Waves and a one-game showdown with Long Beach State on Monday.

Cardinale’s single came off Tulane reliever Jacob Moore (1-1), who had loaded the bases on back-to-back walks and a bunt single with no outs.

Before that, it was a duel between Tulane (7-2) starter Luc Fladda and Pepperdine (2-8) starter Tommy Scavone.

Fladda threw seven innings, scattering six hits and one run. He struck out seven and walked one. He only allowed one extra base hit.

Scavone also went seven innings, giving up five hits and a run. He struck out three and walked none while giving up two extra-base hits.

Oddly, both teams scored their first runs in the first inning.

Tulane struck first, as Michael Lombardi singled to right field to lead off the game. Two batters later, Connor Rasmussen doubled to right-center field and it scored Lombardi to push the Green Wave ahead, 1-0.

Pepperdine tied the game in the bottom half of the first, as Julian Nunez singled to left field. Fladda gave up singles to the next two hitters, Max Bernal and Luke Pemberton, which loaded the bases.

Max Aude then grounded into a fielder’s choice, which scored Nunez to tie the game.

Tulane had a chance to take the lead in the eighth inning as Rasmussen was hit by a pitch by reliever Collin Valentine, followed by a single by Matthias Haas. Kaikea Harrison grounded out to end the inning. Valentine threw two innings of scoreless relief for the victory.

Hass had the big game offensively for the Green Wave, as he went 3-for-4 with two doubles, along with the RBI. Lombardi, Harrison and Tanner Chun each had a hit.

Nick Upstill, who didn’t figure in either of the runs for Pepperdine, was the only Waves player with two hits.

The second and third games of the series will be played at 3 p.m. central. Tulane faces Long Beach State at 8 p.m. on Monday before returning home to host North Dakota State for a three-game series starting next Friday.