Tulane Baseball Powers Past Harvard to Take Game Two, 11-9
In game two of their three-game home opening weekend against Harvard, the Tulane baseball team fell behind 6-0 after one-and-a-half innings with some hot Crimson bats and early iffy Green Wave pitching that included a Harvard grand slam, but the Wave offense came alive late to rally past the Crimson, 11-9, for the victory.
Tough Outing for Tulane Starter Sampson
Beau Sampson took the mound for the Wave to start. It was an abbreviated stay. He spent one-and-two-thirds innings, gave up six hits, six runs all earned, walked two and struck out two.
"I told Beau when he came out, 'Don't hang your head. We're going to win this game,'" senior shortstop Kaikea Harrison told us.
"We can turn any game around," outfielder Tanner Chun said after the contest. "We have that type of team. The talk in the dugout (once Tulane had gotten down by six runs) was just staying locked in and staying hungry."
The Wave scratched back a pair of runs in the bottom of the second before the Crimson put two more on the board by the middle of the sixth to take an 8-2 lead over the Greenies. Tulane bats could not figure out starting Harvard pitcher, Luca Alagheband, who went five innings, striking out only two, but coaxing the Green Wave into seven groundouts.
The Comeback Begins
Alagheband came out in the 6th, leading to an awaking of the Tulane offensive sleeping giant. The Green Wave had back-to-back-to-back singles to open the bottom of the 6th, the first by Harrison, then off the bat of left fielder Tye Wood. Right fielder Jason Wachs slung a single to right field, plating Harrison from 2nd.
Designated hitter Nolan Nawrocki's fielder's choice scored Wood, then back-to-back doubles by Chun and 3rd baseman Matthias Haas pushed across two more runs before the rally came to a close in the bottom of the 6th and the Wave behind by an 8-6 count.
But the Tulane Fun Didn't Stop There
Not to be outdone, Wave batters worked their way for another four runs in the bottom of the 7th. Harrison, batting second, worked a walk, then stole 2nd base, followed by a Wood's walk. Wachs continued his early season hot streak, slapping a single to right field, scoring Harrison. Then a Nawrocki walk loaded the bases. 3rd bagger Trent Liolios earned 1st base the hard way, getting hit by a pitch, pushing Wood home from third. Chun walked in another run, then Haas forced in another on a fielder's choice to shortstop, completing the scoring, and giving Tulane a 10-8 lead.
"We just tried to stay the course," senior Harrison said. "No disrespect to (Harvard), but we have an identity, and we just have got to keep going."
Vincent Comes in to Shut Down Harvard
The Crimson scored once more to pull to within one run in the top of the 8th, but Tulane matched that run in the bottom of the 8th. Then Tom Vincent, seeing only his second action as a Greenie this season, came on to force Harvard into ground outs on four out of the last six batters he faced, including three-in-a-row against the Crimson's 2, 3, and 4 hitters in the top of the 9th.
"It's great how together we are as a team," Chun said after the game, "and accomplish things like we did today." Chun went three-for-three at the plate with a couple of singles and a double, with three RBI.
Harvard left thirteen runners stranded in Saturday's game, matching the baker's dozen left on base Friday night. The Green Wave left four on the base paths.
Now 4-2 on the season, Tulane finishes off this short three-game home opening weekend with Harvard on Sunday at Noon 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.