Tulane Baseball Splits a Doubleheader at #17 TCU
The Tulane baseball team (9-7) split the team’s two games on Sunday with #17 TCU (9-6) with an 8-4 win in the first game and 4-3 loss in the second game at Lupton Stadium. After falling behind 4-0 in the first game, the Green Wave scored 10 runs over the next six innings between the two games before TCU rallied for the victory in the second game with the next three tallies plus having to withstand a Tulane rally in the seventh in the second contest of the day.
The Horned Frogs are currently ranked 17th nationally in D1Baseball's Top 25 and 21st in USA Today's Coaches Poll.
Game 1, an 8-4 Tulane Victory
J.D. Rodriguez (3-0) threw 1.2 scoreless innings of relief to earn the win. Sam Larson threw 2.1 scoreless frames and two strikeouts in relief of Rodriguez. Tom Vincent picked up his second save of the season in getting the final out of the game. Jack Frankel started for Tulane and surrendered four runs on six hits in 4.1 innings.
Jason Wachs led the offensive charge with two hits, three RBIs, two walks and a hit by pitch. He also scored a run without being retired in his five trips to the plate. Nolan Nawrocki also drove in three runs on a hit. Kaikea Harrison tallied two hits, two runs scored and an RBI. Tanner Chun had a hit, a run scored and was hit by a pair of pitches. Matthias Haas had a base hit. Hugh Pinkney totaled a hit and a run scored. Jack Johnson scored a run and a had a walk. Trent Liolios scored a run and had a walk. Nate Johnson picked up a run scored and a hit.
TCU struck first with two runs in the second on the sacrifice fly from Sawyer Strosnider and an infield single from Nolan Traeger.
The Horned Frogs added a tally to the lead in the fourth on a solo home run from Rob Liddington.
Strosnider added a run to the lead for TCU with one-out solo home run in the fifth.
Tulane cut the deficit in half in the sixth on a two-run double from Wachs to score Nate Johnson and Chun.
The Green Wave took the lead in the seventh inning with four runs. Nate Johnson drove in the first with his sacrifice fly. Harrison tied the game up at four all with his single. Wachs gave us our first lead of the series with bases loaded walk. He was followed by a sacrifice fly from Nawrocki to extend the advantage to 6-4.
Nawrocki doubled the advantage with his two-run double in the ninth to extend the lead to 8-4 in what would be the final score after Vincent was able to secure the final out of the game.
Game 2, Trouble for Sampson, Wave Fall 4-3
Beau Sampson (0-2) started for the Green Wave, but was only able to go an inning while surrendering four hits and three runs. Blaise Wilcenski was the first man in out of the bullpen. He went 1.2 scoreless with just a hit allowed. Jude Abbadessa entered next for the Green Wave he allowed a run with three strikeouts in two innings. Jake Toporek was the team fourth pitcher. He threw the final 1.1 scoreless innings.
Tulane scored first with a pair of runs in the opening inning without the benefit of a hit on a sacrifice fly from Tye Wood and a pass ball to score Wachs from third.
TCU got on the board on a run scoring single from Chase Brunson in the first.
The Horned Frogs took the lead in the bottom of the second on a two-run home run from Preston Gamster.
TCU added an insurance run, 4-2, on a two-out hit by Gamster in the fifth.
The Green Wave threatened in the sixth inning as Haas and Pinkney singled back-to-back, but the next three were retired in order on a fielder’s choice, a strikeout and a force out.
Nate Johnson got the Green Wave within one, 4-3, in the seventh and final scheduled inning with his sacrifice fly in what would be the final score.
Ripples
- Jason Wachs extended his on-base streak to 42 games from the end of last season and the first 16 games this year with two hits and two walks in the first game and two more walks in the second game of the doubleheader against TCU. The 42 games is a career high.
- The win over the No. 17 ranked Horned Frogs in the first game was the program’s first win over a ranked opponent since defeating then No. 6 ECU during the regular season of the 2024 campaign (5/12/24).
- The doubleheader was the first played by Tulane since playing a pair against Loyola Marymount last season (2/25/25).
- Matthias Haas extended his on-base streak to 12 games with a hit in the first game and two more knocks in the second.
Next, Tulane plays a neutral site contest against Mississippi State (14-2) in Biloxi, Mississippi at the Kessler Federal Stadium on Tuesday, March 10, at 6 p.m.
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.