Tulane Baseball Can't Outscore #1 UCLA, 13-5
The Tulane baseball team stood up to the challenge of the #1 team in the land for the first three innings of play, but couldn't match the offensive firepower of UCLA in a 13-5 loss to the Bruins. The Green Wave defeat evens the season record for the Wave at 2-2. UCLA improves to 3-1.
Tulane Scores Early, Stays Even with Bruins
The Greenies were able to put two on the board in the top of the 1st and top of the 3rd. To start the game, back-to-back singles by Kaikea Harrison and Tye Wood were followed by screaming double to right center by DH Jason Wachs to give the Wave an early 2-0 lead. The Wave scored two more in the 3rd when Wachs smacks his second two-bagger, followed by a double by third bagger Nolan Nawrocki that scored scored Wachs. Tanner Chun's single pushed across Nawrocki to tie the game at 4-apiece.
That would be it for Tulane offensively until the top of the seventh when sophomore catcher Johnny Elliott hit his first homer as a Greenie over the left center field wall.
The Green Wave scattered eight hits over nine innings. Leading the way Nawrocki, who went two-for-three at the plate with a double, an RBI, and scored a run. Wachs went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI, and scored a run. Tulane batters continued to show good patience at the plate, only striking out five times.
The usually reliable fielding of the Wave suffered a bit. A two-base throwing error by 2nd baseman A.J. Groeneveld in the second that helped lead to an unearned run and Nolan Nawrocki's fielding error at third were rung up the scorekeeper. The Bruins played error-free ball.
UCLA Puts on a Pyrotechnic Display
Tulane could not match the fireworks off the UCLA bats. The Bruins scored in every inning except the 6th and when they didn't come to bat in the bottom of the 9th. UCLA knocked four home runs out of Jackie Robinson Field Tuesday evening off seven Tulane pitchers. J.D. Rodriguez began the game going into the 2nd but only completing one full inning in the books, giving up four runs only one of those earned, walking one.
To show you how good the Bruins bats were, the same Tulane pitching that struck out 44 Loyola Marymount batters this past weekend could only muster three Ks against UCLA, though the Wave staff showed better control, walking four.
Game Notes
- Jason Wachs extended his on-base streak to 30 games from the end of last season and the first four games this year with two doubles Tuesday against UCLA. The 30 games is a career high.
- Tulane falls to 2-7 all-time against the Bruins.
- This game marked the first time that Tulane has faced a ranked opponent since taking on then No. 13 Southern Miss last season.
- Brett Rowell, Jake Toporek and Tom Vincent made their Tulane debuts in the contest.
UCLA will entertain 7th ranked TCU this weekend. Meanwhile, after this Mardi Gras trip, Tulane baseball is in Uptown this weekend for the first time this season, as the Green Wave entertain Harvard in a three game series starting Friday night at 6:30 at Turchin Stadium.
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.