Tulane Baseball Opens Spring Practice; Jay Uhlman Looks at His 2026 Team

The Tulane baseball team cranked up practice this week in preparation for their 2026 season. The Green Wave will open on the road for the first time in three season, heading to the West Coast for a three-game set against Loyola-Marymount, then a single game against preseason #1 pick UCLA. This year's schedule features seventeen games against teams that made it to the NCAA postseason. Tulane's first home games are scheduled for February 20-22 versus Harvard at Turchin Stadium.

Coach Jay Uhlman met with the media this week to talk about his team, which features 23 new players on the roster joining the 17 who are returning from the 2025 list.

"The NCAA is giving us more days (before the season begins)," Uhlman shared. "It gives us another two weeks full time with the guys.

"In terms of new faces, it gives you new perspective, new energy," Uhlman commented. "It's an opportunity to see guys come in to maybe didn't get what they wanted where they were and for you to help develop them and give them the opportunity to become the best versions of themselves."

With the Wave getting almost two-dozen new faces on a 40-man roster, some staffs would worry. Not Uhlman.

"It's the nature of the NCAA now," Uhlman said. "For me, I'm a junior college coach." Uhlman coached at Los Angeles Harbor Junior College, his alma mater, from 1999-2001 before going on to coach at four-year universities. "That turnover (in the junior college ranks) was rampant in junior college and still is. I feel like, instead of being raised as a four-year guy, I was raised on a year-to-year deal. It fits into our honey hole as a coaching staff. We're well-versed that way."

Uhlman got to see his new faces and the seasoned ones during Fall Ball, and things were looking good from his and his coaches' perspective.

"I really like where we ended the Fall," Uhlman told us. "Playing at Ole Miss, I felt that was a good representation of what we'll see this year. We need to stay healthy, and I told them (his players) in our first team meeting back, 'Let's take another step.' It's time for that, and I think they want that. The proof will be in what they decide to do and how we prepare."

Among his returnees, he is relying on names Tulane baseball fans will readily recognize.

"(Infielder) Kaikea Harrison, (utility player) Mattias Haas, (catcher) Hugh Pinkney, (outfielders) Jason Wachs & Tanner Chun, Trey Cehajic from the mound," Uhlman listed off, "the guys coming back are the guys who have been through the war, so to speak. By all accounts, they (the veterans) have taken a step forward. Offensively is where our maturity is to date. Our pitching will come along."

And Uhlman pointed specifically to the right-hander from Shreveport as an early catalyst on the bump.

"Especially Trey," Uhlman pointed out. "He's had a Fall similar to what Chandler Welch, Taylor Montiel, and Michael Lombardi had just in terms of what they brought consistency wise. I'm looking forward to him (Cehajic) taking a step forward."

As for the rest of the Tulane arms, Uhlman is feeling better about the strike-to-ball ratio.

"Based off my eyes, what I've seen this Fall, the strike percentages are up (over last year)," Uhlman explained. "We shoot for 62% or better strike percentage. Our coaches just put on my desk the guys from last year and the improvements they've made in the Fall. Again, that's the Fall. The Fall is the Fall, and the Spring is the Spring. They're going to need to do it when the lights are on."

For the full Tulane baseball schedule, click here.