Pelican Cup Game 1 Goes to UNO, 11-3
Tulane's baseball team (5-3) fell to UNO (3-5) by a 11-3 margin on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at Maestri Field in the first game of the Pelican Cup..
Rough Start for Abbadessa
Jude Abbadessa (0-1) started for Tulane and surrendered six runs in two-thirds of the opening inning. Caden Tarango was the first man out of the bullpen. He allowed two runs in two innings. Jake Toporek had a solid outing with 3.1 innings with just three hits allowed and five strikeouts. LuisPablo Navarro surrendered one hit and two runs in 1.1 innings thrown with two strikeouts. Will Clements closed out the game, allowing a run in getting the final two outs in the eighth.
Jason Wachs led the offensive charge with three of the team's five hits including a pair of doubles. The team's runs were driven in by Kaikea Harrison, Wachs and Johnny Elliott. Tye Wood, Matthias Haas and Trent Liolios all scored a run.
Tulane took the early 1-0 lead in the opening inning on a Wachs' RBI double to the gap in right field to score Wood.
UNO answered with six runs in the bottom of the frame on a two-run blast from Owen Smith and a grand slam from Jake D'Altrui.
The Green Wave drew two runs closer in the top of the second on an Elliott double followed by a sacrifice fly from Harrison.
The Privateers scored two runs in the third inning on a wild pitch and an RBI double from Eli Tidwell to increase their lead to 8-3.
UNO added three insurance runs to the tally in the bottom of the eighth, 9-3, on an Owen Smith single and a two-run bloop double from Dylan Biddick.
Scouting South Alabama
Next, Tulane continues the road trip tonight against against South Alabama. USA is off to a 6-2 start this season after taking two of three in the road series against College of Charleston over the weekend then pulling away with the Tuesday night victory over Southeastern Louisiana (2-6) in a back and forth contest.
Brennon Wright leads the offensive attack for South Alabama with 13 hits. Mike Young is tied for the team lead in home runs with three to go along with 12 hits and nine RBIs. Duncan Matthews is tied for the team lead with three home runs. Stewart Puckett leads the club with his 10 RBIs.
Series History
South Alabama leads the all-time series with Tulane by a 27-23 count since the first game of the series in 1968. The last time that the Green Wave and Jaguars locked up was in 2023 with South Alabama winning 11-7 in New Orleans.
Overall, the Green Wave are 203-160 against current Sun Belt Conference opponents.
Portions Courtesy Tulane Athletics
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.