Tulane Thwarts Cajuns’ Rally, 9-6
The Tulane Green Wave scored eight runs in the first two innings and thwarted a Louisiana comeback as they held on to beat the Cajuns 9-6 before a paid crowd of 4,540.
The Wave (4-0) jumped on Cajuns' starter Brock Batty (0-1) in the first inning. Ty Johnson was hit by a pitch, Ethan Groff singled and Huson Haskin lifted a fly ball that fell between Ben Fitzgerald and Brennan Breaux for a double, giving Tulane its first run. Grant Mathews was hit by a pitch to load the bases and designated hitter Frankie Niemann unloaded them with a three run double to make the score 3-0. Jonathan Artigues' sacrifice fly scored Matthews and Niemann scored on Trevor Minder's RBI groundout and Tulane led 5-0 after one inning.
Collin Burns was hit by a pitch to open the second inning. Johnson hit into a force play, as did Groff. But Haskin singled to keep the inning alive and Mathews unloaded a three run homer to right, giving Tulane an 8-0 lead.
The score was still 8-0 in the fourth when the Cajuns started to make their push. Alex Hannie was hit by a pitch by reliever Chris Holcomb and Brandon Talley walked. Grant Segar came on and walked Justin Greene to load the bases. Nick Hagedorn then singled up the middle to score a pair of runs. Colton Frank's ground ball scored another run and Brennan Breaux then doubled down the right field line to make the score 8-4. Bryce Mackey came on and hit Hayden Cantrelle with a pitch and walked Ben Fitzgerald to force in the fifth run of the inning. Robert Price came on to face Alex Hannie, who lined out to a leaping Mathews at first base for the second out. Talley grounded out to end the inning.
The Cajuns got another run closer in the fifth when Frank was hit by a pitch with two outs. Connor Kimple singled and Jonathan Windham doubled home Frank to make the score 8-6. But reliever Luke Jannetta came in and slammed the door on the Cajuns, retiring Cantrelle on a popup and then shutting down the Cajuns over the next three innings.
Tulane got an insurance run in the eighth on Minder's RBI single and Keagan Gillies retired the Cajuns in the ninth for his second save.
"I thought we competed tonight," head coach Matt Deggs said. "We don't have a lot to show for it in the hit column but we had some really good at bats. We hit some balls on the nose right at people. And, if Hannie's hit is a foot higher, who knows? I really liked our bullpen tonight. Army (Caleb Armstrong), Talley and Jeff Wilson were all really good."
Armstrong pitched 2.1 scoreless innings after coming on in the second inning. Talley was charged with one run and two hits over 3.1 innings with no walks and five strikeouts. WIlson gave up two hits and struck out one in 1.2 innings of work.
Louisiana (1-4) is back in action Friday night when the face former assistant coach John Scefz' Virginia Tech Hokies at 6:00 pm.