Tulane Baseball Breaks 5-Game Skid, Dumps UNO, 5-2
The Tulane baseball team (10-11) earned a hard fought 5-2 victory over UNO (9-13) on Tuesday, March 17, on Greer Field at Turchin Stadium to take the Pelican Cup back.
Wave Pitching Solid
Jack Brafa (2-0) went the first three innings with one hit allowed and four strikeouts to earn the victory. Blaise Wilcenski was the first reliever called upon. He went 2.2 innings with four hits and one run allowed. Jake Toporek threw 0.2 of an inning with a run allowed. Sam Larson threw 2.1 with one hit and one walk allowed while also striking out five. Beau Sampson was called upon to retire the final man and preserve the victory.
Not Much Offense, but Enough
Kaikea Harrison totaled a pair of hits and runs plus a walk. Tanner Chun scored a run, was hit by a pitch, walked and stole a base. Jason Wachs walked three times and scored a run. Nate Johnson drove in two runs. He also walked and scored a run. Brett Rowell, in his first career start at Tulane, had a hit and an RBI.
Tulane was limited to four hits in the game but totaled eight walks were hit by a pair of pitches and only struck out twice.
UNO's Reid Leonard (0-4) was tagged with the loss after allowing four runs without being able to record an out.
The Green Wave scored four in the opening inning. Bases loaded walks to Johnson, Pinkney and Wood drove in a run each. Rowell drove in his first career run at Tulane with an RBI ground out to first for the fourth run.
The Privateers rallied for a run in the fifth inning with Dylan Biddick coming in to score on the front half of a delayed double steal.
UNO drew a run closer, 4-2, on Kareh Valentine’s RBI single.
The Green Wave got a much needed insurance run on Johnson’s base hit to right field.
Next, Tulane keeps the homestand going against fellow in-state rival Northwestern State (13-7) at Turchin Stadium on Wednesday, March 18, starting at 6:30 p.m.
Ripples
- Jason Wachs extended his on-base streak to 47 games from the end of last season and the first 20 games this year with three walks against UNO. The 47 games is a career high.
- The win snapped the team’s five game skid…The win also stopped a four-game losing streak to UNO.
- Brett Rowell’s hit and RBI were the first of his Tulane career.
- The 10 strikeouts recorded by the Tulane pitching staff was the 10th time the program has reached double figures in strikeouts this season.
- Over the last four games, Tulane’s relief pitchers have thrown 29.1 innings with just six runs allowed while striking out 31.
- The Pelican Cup is trophy that is played for annually in the games between Tulane and UNO. The cup used to go to the winner of the three-game series but will now go to the winner of each matchup between the two schools yearly.
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.