Tulane Tries To Bounce Back Following Disappointing Start

CUSA Fans Tulane sports correspondent Seth Weitz provides a Tulane baseball update.

After a shocking opening series loss to Southeastern Louisiana this past weekend, the Tulane Green Wave return to action in Metairie to tangle with the Ospreys of the University of North Florida. The Jacksonville school comes to Louisiana after a slow start in the Springmaid Beach Resort Tournament in Conway, S.C. The Ospreys lost to Virginia (8-1), Coastal Carolina (10-1) and Elon (7-1) over the weekend. On Wednesday night, North Florida lost their home opener to Georgia Southern,13-9.

Last year was North Florida’s first year in Division I and they had a successful run, finishing the season at 34-21 and 20-10 in the Atlantic Sun Conference. They beat LSU in Baton Rouge, 4-3, and swept C-USA member Central Florida in Orlando, outscoring the Knights 20-5 in the process. They also defeated the defending national runner-up, the Universty of Florida, 6-5, in Jacksonville.

Tulane will likely use the same rotation this weekend (Morgan, Gomes, Hunt) and assuming North Florida uses the same rotation, they will send Brad Johnson, Tyler Stohr, and John Atteo to the mound—in that order. Johnson is 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA after going 9-1 with a 2.65 ERA and earning first team A-Sun honors in 2006. Stohr is 0-1 with a 17.18 ERA after going 1-3 with a 4.50 ERA at the United States Military Academy as a freshman. Atteo, a freshman from Lake Worth, Florida is 0-1 with an 8.31 ERA. Through four games North Florida is hitting .220 with 3 home runs. They are led by James Belyea, who is hitting .616 with a home run on the young season. The Ospreys only have two other players hitting over .300, Paul Morales at .500 and Damon Olinto at .333.

All three games this weekend will be played at Zephyr Field and game times are 6:30 on Friday, 2 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday. All times are Central.