Tulane Baseball Falls to EKU, 6-3
The Tulane baseball team (7-4) lost a 6-3 contest to Eastern Kentucky (3-7) on Saturday, at Turchin Stadium to see the series evened at a game apiece. The team’s pitching staff kept the squad in the game despite 12 walks by stranding 16 total runners.
Beau Sampson (0-2) started for Tulane and surrendered three runs on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts in 1.1 innings thrown. Blaise Wilcenski went the next 1.2 and allowed two runs (one earned). He also walked three. JD Rodriguez pitched effectively in 2.1 innings of relief. He allowed just one hit plus two walks with four strikeouts. Jake Toporek went the next 1.2 innings with two hits allowed and one unearned run. He also walked a pair and struck out two. LuisPablo Navarro went 1.1 innings with one hit and an unearned run allowed along with two walks. Julius Ejike-Charles thew the final 0.2 of a frame to close things out for the Green Wave.
Harrison Continues His Hot Streak
Kaikea Harrison led the offense with two hits and an RBI. Tanner Chun had a hit, an RBI and a run scored. Nate Johnson totaled a pair of hits and an RBI. Matthias Haas picked up a hit. Trent Liolios came off the bench to record a hit and a run scored. Jason Wachs, Hugh Pinkney, Nolan Nawrocki and Johnny Elliott all drew a walk.
EKU started the scoring with a solo home run from Dylan Littlefield in the opening inning. Later in the frame, the Colonels added a second run on a bases loaded hit by pitch by Silas Shaffer.
Tulane cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the frame on a Chun sacrifice fly to score Harrison. Harrison started the game with a double and moved to third on a Wood bunt single.
The Colonels got the run back, 3-1, with a bases loaded walk from Khaleel Pratt in the second inning.
EKU added two more to the advantage in the third inning, 5-1, on an RBI ground out from Moreno and a Littlefield sacrifice fly.
The Green Wave cut into the deficit by a tally, 5-2, on Nate Johnson’s base hit through the right side in the bottom of the frame.
The Colonels added an insurance run in the seventh, 6-2, on a sacrifice fly from Littlefield.
The bottom of the frame saw Tulane again draw to within three, 6-3, on Harrison’s single in what would ultimately be the final margin.
Next, Tulane plays the rubber game of the series against Eastern Kentucky on Sunday, starting at 12:30 p.m. Jack Frankel will take the mound for the Green Wave. The sophomore right hander pitched a gem last Sunday, going 7-innings against Harvard, striking out three but not walking a Crimson.
Notes
- Jason Wachs extended his on-base streak to 37 games from the end of last season and the first 11 games this year with a walk today against Eastern Kentucky. The 37 games is a career high.
- Tye Wood has now reached base safely in all 11 games this season.
- The loss was the first time that Tulane has fallen in game when Hugh Pinkney started behind the plate.
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.