#16 Tulane drops season opening series to in-state foe SE Louisiana

CUSA Fans Tulane baseball correspondent Seth Weitz provides a Tulane baseball recap of the series with SE Louisiana.

After routing Southeastern Louisiana, 19-4, on Friday night, Tulane lost the next two games against the Lions, dropping an opening weekend series for the first time since losing 2 of 3 games at Pepperdine in 2002.

Tulane started slowly on Friday night, nursing a 5-3 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning before the Greenie bats suddenly awoke and swamped the Lions. Tulane plated four in the seventh and ten in the eighth en route to the 19-4 win. Rustin Rebowe capped the offensive explosion with a grand slam in the eighth inning. The 18-hit attack was led by Senior Tim Guidry who hit safely in four of his seven plate apperances. In all, five Green Wave hitters had a multi-hit game and 11 Tulane players registered hits.

On the mound the Green Wave was paced by junior Sean Morgan who gave up 1 earned run in 7 innings of work, scattering 5 hits while registering 9 strikeouts. Highly touted freshman Preston Claiborne saw his first collegiate action tossing a scoreless 8th inning in relief of Morgan. A crowd of 3,011 saw the Green Wave improve to 1-0 with the win.

The two teams met again on Saturday, this time in Hammond and with a very different result. Tulane’s potent offense was shutdown by Josh Black and Brent Vernado as the Lions out hit the Green Wave 10-6 and defeated Tulane 5-3 to even the series at one game apiece. Tulane jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on sophomore Warren McFadden’s first home run of the season only to see SLU tie the game at 2 in the bottom of the third and take the lead for good in the fifth, scoring 3 runs off of Tulane starter Brandon Gomes. Freshman Drew Zizinia tossed 3.1 scoreless innings of relief but Tulane only scored once more and could not overcome the Lions.

Southeastern Louisiana took the series with a 4-0 win in the rubber match at Zephyr Field on Sunday. The Green Wave and the Lions each had 7 hits but Tulane hit into numerous double plays and could not get the timely hit with runners in scoring position. Sophomore Shooter Hunt got the loss in his first start for Tulane surrendering 3 earned runs in 5.1 innings of work.

For the weekend Warren McFadden and Cat Everett paced the Greenie bats. Everett hit .462 with 2 RBI and McFadden was 5-12 (.417) with a home run and 5 RBI. Tulane’s defense, usually a strong unit, committed 3 errors. The Lions committed 7 errors but was still able to win the series.

Tulane returns to action on Friday night at 6:30 when they tangle with the Osprey of the University of North Florida at Zephyr Field. The two teams will also meet on Saturday at 2pm before concluding the series on Sunday at 1pm. North Florida opened the season with three losses—losing to Coastal Carolina (8-1), Virginia (10-1) and Elon (7-1) at the Springmaid Beach Resort Tournament in Conway, South Carolina.