After winning her first series of the season against the Columbia University Lions, Tulane Baseball traveled back to the Pacific for a midweek matchup against the University of Washington Huskies and a weekend series against the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Rainbow Warriors. After the four games, the Green Wave is 6:18 in the season.
On Wednesday, March 22nd, the Wave Visited Husky Ballpark in Seattle plays Washington. The Slugger Birds, who had been struggling all season, finally emerged victorious over the hosts with a 14-9 win. Both made heavy use of their bullpens, and Green Wave used eight different pitchers. Starter Jonah Wachter saw his first win of the season after pitching two innings, while Colin Reilly and Michael Lombardi both put in good work in their two innings.
Offensively, Tulane had 17 hits, including seven doubles and three homers — courtesy of Brennan Lambert, Teo Banks and Simon Baumgardt. Jacob LaPrairie had a terrific night with two hits, three walks, four RBIs and three runs scored. Other players with a multi-hit game include Banks, Baumgardt, Chase Engelhard, and Brady Hebert.
On Friday, Tulane was in Honolulu to take on Hawaii at Les Murakami Stadium. Both starting pitchers — Dylan Carmouche for Tulane and Harry Gustin for the Baseball ‘Bows — threw jewels for their respective clubs. Both pitchers hit eight while walking just one. However, Hawaii made one 3-1 Victory thanks to a sixth inning with 3 runs.
Gustin had a no-hitter that ran through six innings; However, in seventh place, he gave up a pinch hit home run to Adam Ebling. Connor Harrison had the saving grace for the hosts.
Things got even worse for the Wave on Saturday as Hawaii slammed down the visitors 7-1. Rainbow Warriors starter Randy Abshier pitched six brilliant innings and conceded just one hit while batting eight. Offensively, Kyson Donahue’s grand slam in the third inning did Hawaii the most damage. For the Wave, their only run came again in the seventh inning, courtesy of an RBI single from Ebling.
Sunday was not kind to the visitors either 5-1 Loss. Tulane starter Ricky Castro threw well enough — he hit five and gave up just two runs — but offensive struggles continued. Hawai’i had two homers that day thanks to Donahue and Sean Rimmer.
While it seemed like Tulane had turned her season around with the series win over Columbia and midweek demolition of Washington, the Hawaii series brought the wave back to square one.
With conference games fast approaching, Tulane head coach Jay Uhlman must quickly find solutions to the club’s three main problems — team defense, hitting with runners in goal position and bullpen.
Tulane will Next game at 6:00 p.m. CST on Wednesday, March 29 against the New Orleans Privateers in a home game. This is the second stage of the Pelican Cup, with the Green Wave in the series 1-0. After that, Tulane will do it Welcome The Memphis Tigers start March 31-April 2 in a three-game set with the American Athletic Conference.
