Patient TU Prevails Over Grambling in Run Shortened Win, 15-5

With conference play kicking into gear, the Wave prepped to play Grambling State on Wednesday. After fighting for an even record last week against NSU, Tulane looks to go further above .500 today against the Tigers.

Starting for the Wave is Jack Brafa, a righty junior from Medina, Tennessee. He has 21-K’s on the season along with a 3.86 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP, and a 2-0 record. He’s allowed seven runs across sixteen and a third innings pitched.

Starting on the mound for the Tigers is Mohamed Horati, who is also a junior and a right handed pitcher. On the season, he has a 10.26 ERA, a 1.86 WHIP, 19 K’s, and a 0-3 record.

Offense Literally Walks All Over the Tigers

The first inning was home to a quick lead for the Green Wave that ended with a Tulane advantage of 3-0. However, it wasn’t quite the swing of the bat that was getting them there, sure there was a lead off single to get us started, but what followed was a walk, hit by pitch, walk, annnnd another walk that put the score at 2-0.

Trent Liolios would count his first RBI of the game two batters later with a single, polishing the 3-0 lead in the first. The graduate transfer has been hitting his stride as of late.

"Yeah, it's definitely turning the corner," Liolios shared with us after the game. "It wasn't the greatest start to the year, but credit to the coaches working with me and making the adjustments that we've made so I can help the team."

Plus Liolios has been the starting first baseman for the last week and a half, which makes a big difference, as he now sees action every day.

"That goes hand-in-hand with (making the adjustments), and keeping me in the lineup has been nice." the Northwestern transfer shared.

Chris Marcellus started the second inning with an RBI double after an error in the previous play caused the runner to advance to second.

Grambling wouldn’t be the only side to get active in the second as the Wave would get another THREE walks to begin the inning, loading the bases with no outs. What followed was nothing but strange, as Jason Wachs would strike out, followed by ANOTHER walk to score a run, and, finally, the final two batters struck out swinging. Score: Tulane 4- Grambling 1

The Wave Are Still Walking, But They’re Swinging Too

Jack Johnson would score after a wild pitch as pitching struggles continued for the Tigers. Two more batters were walked and Jason Wachs capitalized with an RBI single to push the score to 6-1.

Grambling started to claw back in the fourth, attributing two RBI singles from both Chris Marcellus and Hasani Johnson.

After an uneventful fourth inning for the Wave, the game seemed to bust open after Nate Johnson hit an absolute rocket grand slam to right field to extend their lead to 10-3.

"It was a fast ball on a 3-1 pitch, and it was right there," Johnson shared with us. "I knew it was out (when I hit it)."

"He (Nate Johnson) struggled this Fall, and he wasn't playing to start the year," coach Jay Uhlman explained. "And that took some other guys to not perform the way we needed them to for us to go to the bench and give him the opportunity, and he's taken that and really run with it. (He's) hitting in the middle of the order. I do like the spacing of our lineup now, moving him (Johnson) down to fifth behind (clean-up hitter) Tye (Wood) and then breaking up the lefties, so there's more flow and rhythm to our lineup now."

The Tigers refused to go down without a fight. Hasani Johnson would tack on two more RBIs to his total with a missile to left center, cutting the lead to 10-5.

The seventh is where Tulane would make their final push, Nate Johnson started them off with an RBI single. Then, Trent Liolios torched a ball to the right field corner for a bases clearing, three RBI double that shoved the score to 14-5.

The lead off man, Kaikea Harrison, would finish the game, driving in the winning run from third after a single to right field.

Patience is Their Game… It Might Also Be Their Name

The Green Wave finished this game with an astonishing 16-walks. Grambling threw a total of 105 balls to 95 strikes, with balls making up 52.5% of their total pitches. Compare that to the Wave’s 81 total balls which made up 33.6% of their total pitches.

"It's a win," coach Jay Uhlman said after the game. "We ended early: seven instead of nine innings. We walked sixteen times, scored 15-runs. It's hard to score in bunches when you're walking because you're only moving up a base at a time. The big runs came on the big hits."

TU never got greedy and stayed patient at the plate all game, despite a disappointing second inning where they scored only one run despite having loaded bases on no outs, the Wave eventually got into a groove on offense, and it was all gas, no brakes from there.

Nate Johnson led the charge tonight, going two for three with a home run and six RBIs. Trent Liolios followed, going two for four with a double and four RBIs. Notable players include Kaikea Harrison and starting pitcher Jack Brafa.

"I think the whole game, we were just waiting for the offense to explode," the graduate transfer said. "It was nice to get the early win, especially with us traveling to UAB (Thursday)."

Tulane is on the road to Birmingham for their second American Conference series against UAB this Friday at 5pm.