#27 Tulane Tops LSU, 8-3, in "Battle of The Bayou"

CUSA Fans Tulane sports correspondent Seth Weitz provides his latest Tulane baseball update.

Sunday afternoon’s 5-3 win over Southern Cal in Los Angeles salvaged a game in the three game series with the Trojans and provided the Green Wave with the momentum it desperately needed heading into its annual showdown in Baton Rouge with the LSU Tigers.

The Green Wave rolled to a 8-3 victory over the Tigers in the "Battle of the Bayou" on Tuesday night at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge.

After missing the postseason last year, LSU fired much maligned coach Smoke Laval, replacing him with former Notre Dame skipper Paul Mainieri. The Bayou Bengals expected much more from their squad this season and were 7-3 on the young season heading into Tuesday night’s game at “The Box”.

LSU, which has been known to downplay midweek games against Tulane, seemed to take a different approach this season as Coach Mainieri noted to the press the importance of this game for his Tigers.

Tulane sent senior Matt Goebel to the mound against the Tigers in what would be his first significant action in a couple of seasons. Goebel dominated the Tiger hitters early and the Tulane bats caught fire in the 3rd inning as the Greenies jumped out to 4-0 lead by the top of the fourth inning.

Tulane opened the scoring in the third on a solo shot by Nate Simon, who ended the night with three hits and three RBI. The Green Wave plated another run later in the inning on an RBI single by Cat Everett. The lead doubled to 4-0 the next inning when Simon singled in two more runs.

LSU clawed its way back to 4-2 before Tim Guidry put the game out of reach with a two- run home run in the top of the sixth. Tulane would tack on two more runs to provide a nice working margin. Freshman hurler Preston Claiborne and senior closer Daniel Latham relieved Goebel and helped keep the Tigers at bay.

Tulane’s 8-3 win over LSU was the Greenies 4 th win over their arch rival in their last 5 meetings.

Tulane welcomes Wright State to Zephyr Field this weekend for a three-game series.

Tulane, now 6-4 on the season and ranked #27 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, returns home to take on the Raiders of Wright State University this weekend in Metairie.

The Raiders enter the series with Tulane riding high after taking 2 of 3 games in Oxford, Mississippi against #12 Ole Miss. The Raiders lost the opener 3-2 before defeating the Rebels 1-0 in a 5-inning game on Saturday. They won the rubber match on Sunday, shocking Ole Miss, 5-2.

Wright State is led by head coach Rob Cooper, who was an assistant coach at Tulane in the late 1990’s. They are hitting .210 as a team through 3 games. Ross Oeder, who is hitting .444, leads the team. Wright State’s team ERA is an impressive 1.21 after the three game series in Oxford. Ole Miss was held to a .234 batting average over the weekend.

All three games will be played at Zephyr Field where Tulane is 4-2 on the young season. Game times are 6:30, 2 and noon for the weekend.