Tulane Baseball Opens Season with An Offensive Explosion, Beating LMU, 12-3
Three new names were in the starting nine for the Tulane baseball team in the season opener in L.A. Friday night, half of them making up the Green Wave infield, and the new Greenie faces kept showing up and producing, as the Wave pummeled Loyola Marymount in L.A., 12-3 Friday night.
1st Inning: Fireworks for Tulane
It didn't take long for the Wave newbies to make a difference. LMU starting pitcher Zach Bender was having control issues, Both Wood and Liolios earned walks in the top of the first. Add to that Tanner Chun getting hit by pitch, and Tulane had the bases loaded with two out. Designated hitter, Matthias Haas became designated walker, drawing his own free ride to first, gaining his first RBI, forcing in Wood from third and giving the Green Wave an early 1-0 nothing lead. Then, the other new guy, Groeneveld hit a rocket to left-center field that cleared the bases of its previous base runners leaving A.J. on third, putting Tulane up by a 4-0 count. The Wave came within one player of batting around in the frame.
Big righty Trey Cehajic had his own control issues to begin the 1st, giving up three walks and a single in the bottom half of the opening inning, and walking in a run with the bases loaded. Then, the 6' 8" Shreveport native found his groove, striking out two straight to end the Lions threat and keeping Tulane on top after a complete inning, 4-1.
2nd Inning: More "O" for the Wave
The Lions Bender had more trouble finding the strike zone in the top of the second, walking a pair of Greenies, hitting Haas, giving up back-to-back singles by Kaikea Harrison and Wood along with a fielder's choice by Jason Wachs, and Tulane was able to put three more runs across, pushing the Green Wave lead to a 7-1 advantage over LMU.
The Wave's Cehajic had an auspicious start to the bottom of the 2nd, walking the lead off man, then two batter later, giving up a two-run shot to LMU designated hitter Alex Gamboa to deep right field to shorten the Tulane lead to 7-3. Cehajic struck out the final batter to turn away any other Lions threat.
3rd Inning: LMU Changes, Cehajic
The Lions had seen enough in Becker, their starting pitcher. They turned over the ball to left-hander Caleb Sweeney who promptly set the Green Wave down in order for the first time in the game.
Now with a slimmed down 7-3 lead, Cehajic walked the leadoff man, centerfielder Cooper Whitton, for the second time of the night, but the graduate righty struck out two straight, giving him five Ks for the game, then he forced a fly ball out to left field to leave Whitton stranded and maintain that four-run lead.
4th Inning: LMU's Sweeney Rolls, Cehajic Out, Rodriguez In
Despite giving up a walk in the top of the 4th, Lions pitcher Sweeney settled in nicely striking out two and forcing a ground out to keep the score at a 7-3 Tulane advantage.
Cehajic forced a ground out to begin the inning then walked the next batter. Wave coach Jay Uhlman walked to the mound and took the ball from the big righty to end his night. Cehajic went 3-and-a-third innings, struck out three, walked five, gave up two hits, three runs all earned. Right-hander J.D. Rodriguez comes into the game, inheriting the runner at 1st. The righty got a pop out then struck out Gamboa, who had that two-run homer back in the bottom of the 2nd, and Tulane holds on to their 7-3 lead.
5th Inning: Some TU Baserunners, but No One Crosses the plate; Rodriguez Deals
Right hander Jake Geis took the mound for the Lions in the top of the 5th facing the bottom third of the Tulane lineup. After a fly out, catcher Hugh Pinkney was hit by pitch, then James Agabedis strikes out, his second of the game. Harrison gets his second hit of the game, a hustle double that advanced Pinkney to third, but Wood gets called out on strikes to end the inning.
Rodriguez started the inning with a strike out, then walked the next batter giving Tulane pitching a half-dozen bases on balls for the night. A pop up for the second out was followed by a soft single to center field with the runner going sets up runners at the corner and two outs. The Tulane righty worked the next Lions batter to a 1-2 count before blazing a 94-mile-per-hour fastball past him to strike out the side and preserve the 7-3 Tulane lead.
6th Inning: Pitching Settling In for Both Sides
Tulane brought up their 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7 hole hitters in the top of the 6th. Those spots had a combined 1-for-7 at the plate in the first five innings of play. Two batters, two outs by Wachs and Chun. Then, Liolios rips a double down the right field line and Haas draws a walk. Groeneveld lifts a fly to shallow left to end the inning.
Rodriguez starts his third inning of work, giving up a lead-off single to begin, then wild pitches the runner to second. Then, the big righty strikes out two and coerces a fly ball to left field to end the LMU threat.
7th Inning: More Baserunners for TU, No More Runs; Rodriguez On Point
Another newbie, another positive result, as infielder Nolan Nawrocki pinch hits for catcher Hugh Pinkney and rips a double down the left field line. Agabedis strikes out for the third time on the night, Harrison rips a ball up the middle that is snared by LMU pitcher Geis, who throws to third, trying to catch Nawrocki, as Harrison made it to first. Uhlman asked for a review and the Lions were called for obstruction against Nawrocki, making him safe. All for naught, though, as Wood strikes out for the second time for the night, as does Wachs, as the Green Wave have left 11 on base through seven.
Sophomore catcher Johnny Elliott takes over behind the plate for Pinkney, who was pinch hit for in the top of the inning. Rodriguez continues to roll, striking out the side with impressive off-speed stuff, giving J.D. eight strikeouts.
8th Inning: Tulane K's, and More Mound Magic from Rodriguez
The 4, 5, and 6 hitters came up for the Wave in the 8th, and nary a hit was counted among them as Geis picks up his 7th, 8th, and 9th strikeouts of the night, K-ing the side.
Rodriguez begins his 5th inning of work on the mound for the Wave, getting an infield ground out, picking up his ninth K, then enticing another ground out for another three-up, three-down inning, maintaining Tulane's 7-3 lead.
9th Inning: More Tulane Newbies, More Runs
Infielder Jack Johnson, who had subbed in for Groeneveld in the last inning, leads off with a screamer off the left field wall for a stand-up double to lead off the inning. Then Elliott gets hit by pitch to get on first with no one out and two on for the Wave and Agabedis at the plate for TU who flies out to center. But Harrison comes through with a single to center, giving Tulane its first run since the 2nd inning of play and an 8-3 lead. It is also the first time since that inning that the Wave had a hit with a runner in scoring position in seven attempts. Wood walks to load the bases, prompting a pitching change for Loyola-Marymount.
LMU brings in left hander Dylan Singh to try to finish off the ninth. Two pitches in, Jason Wachs is hit by pitch, scoring another Greenie run making it 9-3, Tulane. With the bases still loaded, Chun works the count full before the Wave outfielder rips a bases clearing double to the wall in left center for a 12-3 Green Wave lead. Liolios flies out to shallow left, then Haas places one in the left fielder's glove for out #3.
The bottom of the ninth, Tulane leads 12-3 and the Johnson brothers enter the game: Nate at first and Jack at 3rd. J.D. Rodriguez is back on the mound to try to finish it off. 1st batter, hit by pitch, then a walk and J.D. gets the hook.
The call to the pen sends right-hander Jude Abbadessa to the mound, his first appearance as a Greenie after spending three years at U Conn. He inherits runners at 1st and 2nd with no outs. The righty walks his first batter. Then a come-backer to Abbadessa is thrown home followed by Elliott's rocket to first to turn the first double play of the year for the Green Wave. But the next Lions batter walks to load the bases. A sharp ground ball to Jack Johnson at 3rd is back-handed and the younger Johnson brother steps on third to end the game, Tulane wins 12-3
J.D. Rodriguez gets the win for the Wave going 4-and-two-thirds innings, giving up no runs, two hits, walking two and striking out nine. Leading the way on the offensive side, leadoff hitter Kaikea Harrison, who went 3-for-6 with a double and two RBI.
Game two of the three game set against Loyola Marymount set for Saturday evening, 5:00 p.m. CST in Los Angeles
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.