Tulane Falls Again to Alabama-Birmingham, 7 - 4
Tulane pitchers had a hard time finding the strike zone, leading to Alabama-Birmingham loading the bases multiple times in the second game of their series. Wave hurlers played with fire too often, walking a dozen, which tied a season-high for Tulane pitching, and allowed UAB too many base-running opportunities, as the Blazers topped the Green Wave, 7 - 4.
Not Much from the Plate for the Wave
For the second consecutive game, Tanner Chun, who Saturday was dropped from batting 2nd to the 9th slot in an almost exclusive lefty-batting lineup, got an extra base hit, slamming a double to the center field wall in the 7th, but there wasn't much else for the Green Wave, as Tulane had a total of four hits through nine innings. The Wave went with an almost exclusive left-batting lineup, except for Chun.
"We are trying everything we can to give us the best chance to win," Tulane coach Jay Uhlman told us after the game. "We didn't do enough on either side of the ball to win the game.
"I'm pleased with the effort," Uhlman continued. "We're dealing with some injuries. We're a little short-handed in some spots. We don't have a lot of options in certain scenarios. For instance, (today), every run was manufactured: bunts, steals, there weren't doubles or homers or bases-loaded hits. We are trying to do everything we can to put them in a position to help themselves. As quickly as we're 0-and-2 (over the last two games), we can go 5-out-of-our-last-6 like we did before. That's the thing about baseball."
Back-and-Forth for Most of the Game
The Wave fell behind early as UAB earned three walks and a pair of singles giving the Blazers a 1-0 lead at the end of one. Starting pitcher J.D. Rodriquez, who was forced into a starting Saturday role because of discomfort and tightness with the usual Saturday starter, Jack Frankel, had a high-volume bottom of the first, tossing 38-pitches. The California senior lasted one more batter in the bottom of the 2nd, walking the leadoff man for Alabama-Birmingham, before redshirt junior Jude Abbadessa took to the hill in the second.
A couple of free trips by Tulane batters in the top of the 2nd paid off, as designated hitter Brett Rowell singled home one run, then James Agabedis squeeze bunted in another, to give the Wave their first lead of the series, 2-1.
Abbadessa walked two the old-fashioned way and fit in an intentional walk to load the bases for the second time in the first two innings, before giving up a single to re-give UAB the lead, 3-2. Another walk loads the bases before the Endicott native struck out the final batter, leaving the bases loaded for the second consecutive inning.
After the 2nd inning, Abbadessa kept the Blazers honest, holding them scoreless through the next two frames, but the combination of he and Rodriguez for nine walks proved too much before LuisPablo Navarro entered the game with no outs and runners at 1st and 2nd in the 5th. After striking out the nine hole hitter, Navarro coaxed a double play out of one of the best hitters in the American, Kevin Hall, to end the inning, the second twin-killing of the day for the Tulane defense, which piled up three double plays on the day.
"I think there's some pressing," Uhlman said. "I think our bullpen, with the injuries that have taken place for us, probably reared its head a little bit on how much we've used our bullpen. With Frankel not pitching, it puts J.D. in a spot and puts other guys in a spot."
With the Green Wave down by one, Tye Wood walks, and Rowell was exchanged in the lineup for right-hander Matthias Haas. After Wood stole 2nd, he gets third on an errant pick off throw to 2nd base. Haas slaps a sacrifice fly to right field to tie the score at 3-apiece.
Free Passes by Tulane Pitchers Spell Trouble
The walks continued to pile up for Tulane pitching, and it cost them in the bottom of the 6th, as three of the four runs UAB scored were base runners who earned bases-on-balls. Once six-innings were complete, the Blazers had a 7-3 lead.
The Green Wave was able to tack on another run in the top of the seventh, but never threatened again.
With the loss, Tulane drops below the 500-mark in American Conference play at 2-3 and sit an even-Steven 14-14 on the year. Alabama-Birmingham ups its league record to 3-2, 17-10 for the season.
"We're trying to gut through what we're going through right now," Uhlman said about the two-game losing streak and the injury situation for the Wave. "Unfortunately, guys aren't operating on full cylinders. We just have to hang in there."
Among the walking wounded, catcher Johnny Elliott with an undisclosed injury that has kept him on the sidelines for a week, pitcher Will Clements who was left back in New Orleans dealing with back issues, and designated hitter and utility man Nolan Nawrocki, who turned his ankle during batting practice on Friday.
"We're down to about fourteen people on offense and fifteen or sixteen or so pitchers," Uhlman said. "We're just trying to make it to Easter.
"We play Thursday, Friday, Saturday next week," Uhlman observed. "So I felt I wasn't going to let (Frankel) pitch on a short week. I thought, cut our losses, try to gut through this weekend. Obviously, that didn't work out so well today (Saturday), but he should be starting next weekend.
"We're desperate for a win tomorrow (Sunday) to avoid the sweep," Uhlman concluded. "Nobody is feeling sorry for us. We've got to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps."
The final game of the series is set for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch on Sunday in Birmingham. The Wave will be throwing Jake Toporek on what amounts to a bullpen game, with a depleted amount of arms to get through the contest.
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.