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March 11, 2007

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METAIRIE, La. - One day after leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, history wound up repeating itself as the Tulane University baseball team dropped a 3-2 decision to Loyola Marymount in the series finale Sunday afternoon at Zephyr Field.

Trailing 3-1 with the bases loaded and two away in the final stanza, senior first baseman Tim Guidry drew a full-count walk to put the tying run 90 feet away, but Lions reliever Andy Beal got out of the jam to give LMU the series victory. Tulane (12-6) and Loyola Marymount (10-12-1) each had nine hits, but the Green Wave wound up stranding 13 runners on base, including eight in scoring position.

"It was a very frustrating day," Tulane head coach Rick Jones said. "Our offensive has just been struggling. We left too many runners on again today. I thought we had a tremendous pitching performance from Shooter (Hunt) and Daniel (Latham) gave us some really good relief. It's just frustrating right now offensively for us. To be the type of club we expect to be, we're going to offensively have a lot better production, especially in RBI situations."

Hunt (3-2) pitched well enough to win, allowing two runs on six hits while walking one and striking out five in a 6.1-inning start, and Latham gave up just one run on three hits over the final 2.2 stanzas. The difference, however, was timely hitting by the Lions and a hustling mentality on the basepaths as LMU tallied five stolen bases.

LMU second baseman Eric Farris led the Lions by going 3-for-5 with a double and three stolen bases, and scored the first two runs of the ballgame. He opened the contest with a leadoff single to center, advanced the bases on a steal and a sacrifice bunt and scored on an RBI-groundout by right fielder Angelo Songco.

In the sixth, he ripped a leadoff double to gap in right central, advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt and scored on an RBI-single by centerfielder DeAndre Miller to give the Lions a 2-0 advantage.

Tulane made things interesting in the bottom of the sixth as a walk by sophomore designated hitter Nate Simon and singles by Guidry and sophomore catcher Jared Dyer loaded the bases with only one out. A sacrifice fly to center off the bat of sophomore centerfielder Aja Barto cut the lead in half, but that would be all LMU starter Brian Wilson would allow.

The Lions got the run back in the top of the ninth when reserve left fielder Jeremy LaMell was hit by a Latham offering, advanced the bases on via steal and single by shortstop Michael Glomb, and touched the paystation on a base hit by third baseman Will Dugoni.

Down a pair with just three outs left to play with, Tulane loaded the bases on singles by sophomore left fielder Anthony Scelfo and junior shortstop Cat Everett followed by a walk to junior second baseman Brad Emaus. Guidry won a six-pitch plate appearance against Beal, but Beal bounced back to get pinch hitter Sean Morgan to ground out to second base to earn his fifth save of the season.

Lost in the late inning drama was the performance of Wilson (2-0), who allowed just one run on six hits while striking out five and walking three in 6.2 innings of work. Nathan Keadle got the final out of the seventh and Xavier Esquivel tossed a scoreless eighth before giving way to Beal to start the ninth.

"I think we did make some big pitches," Loyola Marymount head coach Frank Cruz said. "I give Brian Wilson a lot of credit. He got himself into some jams with some base on balls and he gave up a couple of hits, but he did make the big pitch. In that last inning, Beal came in with a change-up against Morgan on first pitch. We were fortunate with our pitching and I thought they did a good job."

Tulane continues its 12-game homestand on Tuesday, March 13, with game one of the WOW Café & Wingery Cup series vs. cross-town foe UNO on Tuesday and will play host to Siena in a weekend series beginning on Friday, March 16.

For ticket information to this week's games, as well as future Green Wave athletic events, please contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at 504-861-WAVE. The Zephyr Field Ticket Office is located on the third-base side of stadium and will open approximately two hours before first pitch for each Tulane home game.