Tulane Baseball at Charlotte, Looks to Move Up in Conference Standings

Fresh off its most impressive win of the season, the Tulane baseball team hits the road to North Carolina to take on the bottom of the American Conference barrel this weekend in Charlotte. The 49ers are 20-24 for the season, 5-13 in the conference. The Green Wave comes in with a 23-23 mark overall, 8-10 in the American, tying the Wave with Memphis, FAU, and Rice for the fifth slot in league standings. Only the top eight teams make it to the American tournament, which begins May 20th in Clearwater, Florida.

Back-to-Back Impressive Wins

On Tuesday, the Sluggerbirds overcame not one but two deficits in their game against 12th ranked Southern Miss to take a 7-6 victory over the Golden Eagles. That win came two days after the Wave scored 12-runs against American Conference leader UTSA to prevent a Roadrunner sweep at home.

Pitching Changes for the Wave

Though pitching arms are at a premium for Tulane, with injuries to a half-dozen, some moving around of starting pitchers has been done.

Sunday starter J.D. Rodriguez will begin on the mound tonight against Charlotte. The senior right hander has been the most consistent of the starting pitching for the Wave. This is his 17th appearance and 10th game started although this is his first Friday start of the year. Rodriguez has started six straight Sunday conference games. On the year, Rodriguez is 5-0 with a 3.78 ERA in a team-high 47.2 innings worked. He is limiting opponents to a .249 batting average against.

Rodriguez replaces graduate Trey Cehajic on the mound as the series opener. Since the weekend before conference play began, Cehajic has seen his ERA double to 8.61. Though the graduate righty had an impressive outing against rival East Carolina three weeks ago, he hasn't shown consistency. You can expect him to be used out of the bullpen

Saturday will see Jake Toporek on the mound for Tulane. The graduate student left-hander is 1-4 on the year with a 5.00 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 36.0 innings worked. He is limiting opponents to a .276 batting average. This is Toporek's 17th appearance and seventh start of the season, six of those have been conference starts.

Sunday is expected to be a bullpen game.

Friday start time is slated for 5:00 p.m., Saturday has a 3:00 p.m. first pitch set, and Sunday will get going at Noon. All times are CDT. All games can be heard on WRBH, 88.3 FM in New Orleans.

Ripples

- Catcher Hugh Pinkney was injured before Tuesday's game against Southern Miss, a result of friendly fire. As Pinkney was warming up starter Jude Abbadessa, a stray throw smacked Pinkney in the noggin, forcing him to go through concussion protocol. His availability is day-to-day.
- Dating back to the end of last season, 10 of the last 20 hits that James Agabedis has have gone for extra bases with seven home runs, two doubles, and a triple.

Over the Last Five Games...

- Sam Larson has appeared in three games and is 1-0 with 4.1 scoreless innings and a save.
- Tom Vincent has pitched in three games with two strikeouts in four innings thrown along with a win and a save.
- Matthias Haas is hitting .375 with six hits, a home run, and three RBIs over the last five games.
- Over that same stretch, Nate Johnson sports a .357 batting average with three runs, five hits, two doubles, and a triple.
- Jason Wachs is hitting .350 with three runs, seven hits, three doubles, a home run, four RBIs, 13 total bases, .650 slugging percentage, and two walks.
- James Agabedis has five hits, four runs scored, a double, a triple, a home run, a .647 slugging percentage, and seven RBIs.
- Tye Wood is hitting .318 with two runs, seven hits, three doubles, 10 total bases, and a .455 slugging percentage.
- Kaikea Harrison has scored three runs and driven in four with three hits, and four walks.

Portions Courtesy Tulane Athletics

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