April 11, 2007

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METAIRIE, La. - Junior second baseman Brad Emaus and sophomore right fielder Warren McFadden had three hits apiece and the pair combined to provide the game's winning run as the Tulane University baseball team used the come-back attack to defeat Louisiana-Lafayette, 5-4, Wednesday evening at Zephyr Field.

The Ragin' Cajuns jumped on Tulane starter Matt Goebel for four runs in the top of the second, but the senior right-hander settled down to pitch four shutout innings the rest of his outing. The Green Wave offense, meanwhile, plated single runs in the second and fourth innings, two in the fifth and another in the sixth to pull out the victory.

With the win, Tulane improves to 25-10 on the year and is now 7-4 against teams from the state of Louisiana in 2007. Louisiana-Lafayette, meanwhile, falls to 26-8.

"I thought tonight was one of the more complete games we played, and probably one of the tougher games we've played," Tulane head coach Rick Jones said. "UL-Lafayette is one of the best clubs we've seen. They've got an outstanding club and their record bears that out."

"We're down 4-0 and to stop them right there and put up seven innings of goose eggs and wind up having more hits, that's really good at-bats. We had some good two-out, two-strike at-bats and we were really solid. You see what happens when guys like McFadden and Emaus get going."

The Green Wave out-hit the Cajuns, 12-11, but no hit was bigger than McFadden's RBI-double in the bottom of the sixth. UL-Lafayette reliever Danny Farquhar retired the first two men of the inning with a groundout and a strikeout, but Emaus sparked a two-out rally with a single up the middle. In the ensuing at-bat, McFadden fell behind 0-2. With Emaus running on the pitch, McFadden laced a two-bagger to the gap in right central to break a 4-all tie.

Goebel gave way to freshman right-hander Preston Claiborne to start the seventh, and the rookie from Dallas retired the all six batters he faced in order. Senior closer Daniel Latham came on to start the ninth, but the Cajuns made things interesting as pinch hitters Matt Hicks and Michael Levi hit back-to-back one-out singles to put the go-ahead run on base.

There would be no come-back by UL-Lafayette, however, as Latham struck out right fielder Nolan Gisclair and three-hole hitter Jeffries Tatford to earn his eighth save of the season and spark the Tulane celebration. Goebel (6-1) finished the day allowing four runs - all in the fourth - on nine hits while striking out a season-high six and walking just one in a 6.0-inning start.

"Matt Goebel really gave us a good outing," Jones said. "He was dominant in the first inning and then he pitched extremely well from the third inning on. Preston Claiborne had electric stuff tonight and Daniel showed you why he's one of the premier closers in the game."

Tulane squandered a scoring opportunity in the first after loading the bases with only one away, and the Cajuns made the missed opportunity hurt as catcher Justin Lucroy hammered a solo homer to open the second and spark a four-run frame.

With one away, third baseman Tim Santiago and first baseman Justin Robichaux hit back-to-back singles, second baseman Devon Bourque drove Santiago in with a double to left and centerfielder Josh Logan singled through the right side of the infield to make it 3-0. Leadoff hiter William Cory capped the scoring in the stanza with a sacrifice fly to right.

The Green Wave scratched across a run in the home half of the frame courtesy of a sacrifice fly off the bat of sophomore first baseman Jonny Weiss and Tulane made it a two-run ballgame in the fourth when sophomore designated hitter Aja Barto ripped a one-out triple to left center and scored on an RBI-grounder by Weiss.

Emaus and McFadden got things going in the fifth with a leadoff single and a ground-rule double to right, respectively, and sophomore left fielder Anthony Scelfo cut the lead to one with a sacrifice fly. An error by Long at short allowed McFadden to move to third, and sophomore centerfielder Nate Simon laced an RBI-single through the right side of the infield to tie the game and set up McFadden's game-winning double one inning later.

UL-Lafayette starter Brent Solich went four-plus innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out four before giving way to Matt Pilgreen. Farquhar (2-3), who entered the game with a team-leading 2.06 ERA and six saves, came on to thwart a Green Wave rally in the fifth, but was tagged with the loss after giving up Emaus and McFadden's two-out hits in the sixth.

The Cajuns wound up stranding eight runners on base, including six in scoring position. UL-Lafayette left the bases loaded in the third, a runner at third in the fourth and runners at second base in the sixth and ninth innings.

"Goebel has been pitching very well for them, and we knew that," UL-Lafayette head coach Tony Robichaux said. "He was off to a 5-1 start. Once we got those four (runs) we tried to build on it, but you have to give him credit there. He could have collapsed right there after those four runs in that big inning, but he didn't collapse. He held us at bay and we couldn't build on him.

"We had many opportunities to build on him, but he made big pitches when he needed to. He bypassed the middle innings and he kept his team in the ballgame. He bridged the gap to their best arms, and you have to give their hitters credit. They came in and hit off some good arms for us. That was some of our better relievers and (Tulane) got the job done."

The Green Wave return to action on Friday, April 13, when they open a three-game series against Conference USA rival Southern Miss at 6:30 p.m. in Hattiesburg, Miss. The two teams will play again on Saturday at 4 p.m. before closing out the weekend on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1 p.m.

Tulane's next home game will be on Tuesday, April 17, when they play host to Northwestern State at noon at Zephyr Field. For ticket information for that ballgame, as well as future Green Wave athletic events, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at 504-861-WAVE.