Over the weekend, it seemed as though the five games a week schedule was getting to the Green Wave. Tulane dropped two of three games to UC-Irvine at home, only scoring six runs in the three game series. The sluggish play continued on Tuesday against a struggling Northwestern State team; Tulane needed 11 innings to squeeze out a 4-3 victory. On Wednesday though, the team came alive, pounding out 23 hits and 18 runs to defeat Northwestern State 18-11, improving the Green Wave's record to 10-5. Associate head coach Mark Kingston saw coming.
"Even though we had nine hits [on Tuesday], we could easily have had probably 15," Kingston said. "Having 23 again today, I think you're starting to see the residual effects of playing good teams that have very good pitching early in the season."
Freshman third baseman Rob Segedin led the way, tying a Tulane single-game record with six hits. Juniors Anthony Scelfo, Aja Barto and Andrew Rodgers added 11 more hits, three home runs and eight runs-batted-in.
"It was just one of those things where we started having good at-bats early," Kingston said. "Guys built on each other and we had a great day. Obviously, it was our best day of the season."
The Green Wave will stay at home for another three-game set against a struggling Oakland Golden Grizzlies club. So far the Grizzlies are only 2-6 on the season, and have yet to play a single game at home. Considering the extremely tough schedule the Green Wave has played thus far, one might be worried about a letdown. But Kingston is confident his team will come out and play hard.
"To use the old cliché, we are going to take it one game at a time," he said. "We have a lot of hitters that want to continue to have good at-bats, continue to get better and we are going to continue to play the game regardless of the opponent and continue to improve."
Junior Shooter Hunt once again takes the mound for the Green Wave today, looking to continue his impressive season. Hunt is 2-0 with a 0.95 ERA, has 27 strikeouts in only 19 innings, and was just named Conference USA pitcher of the week. He is certainly living up to the preseason expectations.
So far the Green Wave has been led offensively by outfielders Aja Barto and Warren McFadden. They are batting an astounding .345 and .304 respectively on the season. Both have been the most consistent players in the lineup.
While Tulane has not exactly struggled, it is not as if they are playing their best ball either. Against a struggling team like Oakland, this is a great chance for the Green Wave to pad its record and gain some confidence before conference play starts. Tulane has yet to play poor competition and needs to take advantage of it when it does. A sweep this weekend is the only option for the Green Wave with conference play on the horizon.
2008 Woodie Awards
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