A True Must-Win Scenario for Tulane Baseball vs Rice
Fifty-three games after the season started on February 13th in California, the Tulane baseball team finds itself in its most must-win scenario it has experienced all season long, as the Green Wave are in Houston to take on the high-flying Rice Owls in a Thursday, Friday, Saturday regular season series finale.
The Wave is currently tied for 9th place in the American Conference with Charlotte, the team that swept TU two weeks ago, both teams standing at 10-14 in league play. Only the top eight teams in the American make it to Clearwater, Florida
The amazing Guerry Smith with The Times Picayune/NOLA.com did all the Mathing for us and, as usual, nailed the numbers down. If you'd like to read his article, you can see it here. Warning: it is behind a paywall. Without stealing Guerry's thunder, here is the easiest scenario for the Green Wave.
Sweep and In
If Tulane can sweep Rice this weekend, the Green Wave are guaranteed a spot in the American Conference tournament. Whether they end up in the 4th slot or the 7th slot all depends on how the rest of the league shakes out. Here are the official standings as of today, courtesy of the American.
The weekend series all run Thursday through Sunday. Here are the matchups:
- Wichita State is at South Florida
- Memphis visits Charlotte
- East Carolina travels to Florida Atlantic
- UAB goes to UTSA
Depending on who wins more (read South Florida, Memphis, & FAU), the Green Wave move up the standings. Again, read Guerry's article for more info.
Win and you're in.
"100% accurate," coach Jay Uhlman said this week. "We don't control anything outside of how we go about our business. Finishing strong is important to me and to us. If we finish things out the right way, we get to go to Clearwater."
The home of the American Conference tournament has been like a second home to the Green Wave under the auspices of Uhlman. The Wave has advanced to the championship game in each year Uhlman has headed up the program, winning it twice in those three years and advancing to the NCAA regionals.
Tulane is on a roll of late, winning two of three from South Florida over the weekend in the home season final series, but if Uhlman is anything, he is a realist.
"I appreciate that," Uhlman said when referring to the two-game win streak for his team, "but there's the naysayer in me that says, 'Show me.' I want us to play competitive and play with pride. If we do that, we'll be happy with the results."
"It's what we do, when we play the right brand of baseball, Tulane baseball," senior shortstop Kaikea Harrison said when talking about the two game win streak, "we win. We're good."
Rice has already clinched a spot in the tournament, as has UTSA, East Carolina, and UAB. The Owls have a potent staff on the mound.
"They pitch very well," Uhlman shared. "(Former Tulane coach) David (Pierce) has done a good job with them from the pitching side. As recently as the ECU (series), they were teetering on the edge, but they go in there and do something they haven't done in a while (win two of three against the Pirates), and that builds your confidence."
"We've got to get better on the road," Harrison admitted. "We've got to play well, attack their (bull)pen. We tend to hit better pitching, better, honestly."
Wachs Among the Best
Among the leaders in the American Conference is Tulane designated hitter and right fielder Jason Wachs. The sophomore is at the top of the heap in doubles with 21, top-5 in OBS at 1.049, and top-7 in total bases and slugging percentage. He knows what it's going to take to win at Rice.
"Everything we've got," said Wachs. "Every single game. Every single pitch. It'll give us a chance to get to Clearwater, because you know weird things happen there for us."
Tonight's game has a 6:35 p.m. start at Reckling Park. J.D. Rodriguez gets the call as the Friday starter for Tulane. This is his 19th appearance and 12th game started although this is his third conference series opening start of the year as he had previously been the Sunday starter since the start of conference play before the last weekends (six total starts). On the year, the Senior is 5-2 with a 5.60 ERA in a team leading 54.2 innings worked. He is limiting opponents to a .284 batting average against.
Friday's game also has as 6:35 p.m. start, while Saturday's first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. The Green Wave have not announced starting pitchers for either of those contests.
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Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.