Tulane Baseball Falls in Extras, 8-6 to Creighton
It was a late night for Tulane fans who stuck around until the end, in a game that didn't get through until almost midnight,
The Tulane baseball team (9-9), after falling behind 6-0 in the first inning, stormed all the way back to tie the game up in the bottom of the ninth before falling in extra innings to Creighton University (6-8) on Friday night at Turchin Stadium.
Tough Outing for Cehajic
Trey Cehajic started for Tulane and surrendered six runs in 0.2 of an inning. The team's first six relievers were up to task in keeping the Bluejays off the scoreboard all the way into the 12th inning. Jake Toporek (0-1) was tagged with the loss after surrendering a two-run home run in the 12th. LuisPablo Navarro began the strong relief work with 3.1 scoreless with four strikeouts. Jacob Moore had a scoreless frame with two strikeouts. Caden Tarango threw 0.2 without being scored upon. Julius Ejike-Charles allowed just one hit in his 1.1 innings. Jude Abbadessa threw a pair of innings with three strikeouts. Sam Larson pitched the 10th and the 11th inning with four strikeouts. Toporek finished the game allowing two runs on a pair of hits and a walk but also striking out three.
Chun, Nawrocki On the Offensive
Tanner Chun led the offensive attack with three hits and two RBIs plus a walk and a run scored. Jason Wachs drew a pair of walks and scored a run. Nolan Nawrocki drove in three runs and scored a run. He also hit his first home run of the season. Tye Wood walked twice, had a hit and drove in a run. Bryson Ayala tallied a hit; Hugh Pinkney totaled a pair of hits. Nate Johnson walked as did James Agabedis.
Tulane's offense went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 runners while also totaling 10 hits and eight walks.
The team's pitching staff allowed just two runs after a rocky first inning while recording 17 total strikeouts.
Creighton scored first with six runs in the opening inning on a two-run Ben North single, an RBI ground out from Connor Capece, a run-scoring single from Lew Rice, and a two-run base hit from Chris Baillargeon.
The Green Wave answered with a pair of runs in their half of the opening frame, 6-2, on a fielder's choice by Nawrocki and a sacrifice fly from Wood.
Nawrocki brought Tulane to within two, 6-4, with his two-run home run in the sixth inning.
Tulane finally caught up and tied the score in the ninth on the two-run double by Chun.
Nate McHugh untied the game in the 12th with a two-run home run to put the Bluejays up 8-6 in what would be the final score.
Game two of the three game set is set for today starting at 2:00 p.m.
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.