The State of Tulane Baseball, Plus Spring Football and the Transfer Portal
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Sluggerbirds Struggling
We begin in Birmingham, where the Tulane baseball team was swept by Alabama-Birmingham in an American Conference series. A combination of a lack of hitting on the Green Wave’s part, injuries piling up between position players and the mound, and timely hitting on the part of UAB against Tulane pitchers added up to a three-game sweep by the Blazers.
On SI Analysis
The Tulane bullpen did a yeoman’s share of work this weekend, as the Wave paraded four pitchers to the mound on Friday, five on Saturday, and four more on Sunday. For a team that is hurting for arms due to injury, that puts a lot of pressure on an already short-armed staff. Friday starter Trey Cehajic gave up 10-hits and eight runs over 4-and-two-thirds innings. Saturday starter Jack Frankel didn’t make the trip because of discomfort and soreness, so the already taxed bullpen had to move up a day and hope they could make it further along.
We are not making excuses, just giving the reality of the pitching situation. There is no doubt Friday starter Cehajic is not where Jay Uhlman wants him to be, and that he’d like to get some length out of his starters.
However, the big question mark for us is the lack of hitting at important junctures of the game by the Green Wave. This year’s squad was never going to be hitting it over the fences on a regular basis, but getting four hits in Saturday’s loss, combined with the two hits Tulane had going into Friday night’s 9th inning and the result will be pretty consistent: a loss.
Coach Jay Uhlman told us this weekend, he feels his team is pressing at times and that they are hurting after Sunday’s walk-off home run victory by UAB. Though the Green Wave is back home Tuesday for their lone mid-week game against Nicholls, Tulane is back on the road this weekend to face Wichita State, tied with UTSA and Alabama-Birmingham for the top of the American.
Spring Football
After a 12-day hiatus for Spring break, the Tulane football team is back on the field Tuesday for Day 7 of their 18-practice schedule of Spring Football. The last time we saw the Wave was at their first scrimmage of Spring on Saturday, March 19th, which we reviewed here. Will Hall’s troops will be working Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday for the next three weeks and are aiming for their final Spring Scrimmage on Saturday, April 18th in Yulman Stadium at 9AM. We will be at every practice to give you the inside scoop of what went on and reaction for coaches and players and report back to you each day of practice at 4:00 p.m. with both analysis and interviews.
Tulane Transfer Portal
Ron Hunter’s NCAA committee must have gotten it right for the group, because the two-week basketball transfer portal has been moved to the day after the Final Four. The women’s fortnight of activity begins April 6th and rolls through April 20th. The men have from April 7th through April 21st.There is the exception that if a head coach leaves, players have a special 15-day window to enter the portal after the coach departs or is hired away.
On SI Analysis
Though we have not seen or heard of any official portal announcements for Tulane athletes, there are rumblings that men’s star guard Rowan Brumbaugh will be testing the transfer waters in a week, and we can’t blame him. What should Tulane do?
For the men, try your damnedest to keep Brumbaugh. If not, find some help on the inside: someone big and athletic. And while you’re at it, get the best shooting guard/forward you can find who would like to try New Orleans cuisine and Mardi Gras.
For the women, athletic inside players are the key, along with ball handlers who will not give up the ball as much.
We will be reporting on each of the Tulane teams beginning next week.
We hope you've enjoyed this edition of the Green Wave Report from On SI Tulane. Tuesday, March 31st, the Green Wave football team returns from Spring break for its final 12-practices. We will be covering that for you and bring you a special edition of the Green Wave Report Tuesday.
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.