Tulane Baseball Races Ahead, Holds off EKU 5-4
Tulane baseball was able to withstand a four-run assault late to hold off Eastern Kentucky and earn a 5-4 win in Friday night's opener.
A strong outing by Tulane starting pitcher Trey Cehajic, along with solid, timely hitting by Green Wave batters early lead to a 5-0 Wave lead through three. Eastern Kentucky stormed back for four runs in the eighth, before the TU defense held.
First Homer of the Year in Turchin for the Green Wave
Leadoff batter Kaikea Harrison started things off with his first homer of the year, and the first at Turchin Stadium for the Green Wave this year, giving the Wave an early 1-0 advantage. Tulane batters continued to show great patience at the plate, earning walks and getting hit by pitch to increase the numbers in the home frame to a 3-0 Greenie lead.
Harrison led the offensive attack for the night with two hits, a run scored and an RBI. Tye Wood had a hit and a run scored. Jason Wachs tallied a hit, and a walk plus scored two runs. Hugh Pinkney had a hit, a walk, a run and an RBI. Matthias Haas knocked in a pair of runs.
Pitching Dominant Early, Late
Cehajic had his best performance in three starts for Tulane, pitching a one-hitter through seven solid innings, walking only one and striking out 11. The big righty threw 102-pitches in this appearance.
Relief pitchers Caden Tarango and Tom Vincent struggled to get batters out in the top 8th, as the Colonels pushed across four runs before getting an out. With a runner at third and two out, a wild pitch was bounced in at home plate. A great block by catcher Hugh Pinkney was followed by an even better dive to tag the runner out on a close play at home that was reviewed but upheld.
The top of the 9th got a rough start with a sharply hit double to the wall in right field. An error on a dropped throw at 1st base by 2nd baseman James Agabedis who covering on a bunt, pushed the runner to third with no outs. A pulled-in Tulane infield was able to work its defensive magic, getting a bunt out at first, followed by a strike out looking from pitcher Sam Larson, then a Larson catch of a short bounder toward the mound that saw the batter thrown out at first.
Wave Notables
- Jason Wachs extended his on-base streak to 36 games from the end of last season and the first 10 games this year with a hit and a walk today against Eastern Kentucky. The 36 games is a career high.
- Trey Cehajic’s 11 strikeouts are the most for the program since Michael Lombardi also went seven innings with 11 strikeouts last season against Florida Atlantic in the first round of the American Conference Championship (5/20/25)
- Kaikea Harrison’s home run was his second career long ball at Tulane and third blast dating back to the start of his collegiate career at USC.
Game two of the series is set Turchin Stadium Saturday afternoon. The Green Wave will send Beau Sampson to the mound. His first start two weeks ago against Loyola Marymount was solid, but his game last week versus Harvard was forgettable as he gave up six runs in less than two innings. Tulane coach Jay Uhlman is thinking that Harvard start was an outlier.
First pitch for game two of the three-game series is set for 4:00 p.m. Saturday in Turchin Stadium.
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.