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Baseball Takes C-USA Series-Opening Game At Southern Miss, 7-5
April 13, 2007
Box Score in PDF Format
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - It was a case of good news/bad news for the Tulane University baseball team Friday evening at Pete Taylor Park. On one hand, the Green Wave (26-10, 7-3) pounded out 17 hits - including a combined seven by junior second baseman Brad Emaus and sophomore right fielder Warren McFadden - and the pitching staff got big outs when they needed it in a 7-5 Conference USA series-opening victory over Southern Miss (21-14, 3-7). On the other, however, the win was a costly one as Emaus and McFadden both rolled ankles in the ballgame and their status for the rest of the weekend will be game-time decision each day. "What an investment tonight was," Tulane head coach Rick Jones said. "Brad Emaus and Warren McFadden have both been red-hot the last few games and both of them have carried us offensively. For both of them to have the exact same injury, what are the odds? "When you bang out 17 hits against a pitching staff that had the ERA that they had, that's impressive and those two guys had a lot to do with it. Their both going to be very, very questionable for the rest of the weekend and we'll go from there. We've got a lot of guys who have worked real hard and a couple of those guys will have to give us a lift tomorrow."
Tulane fell behind 1-0 after the first inning, but scored runs in six of the next seven innings, including a two-run fifth. Green Wave starter Sean Morgan (7-2) gave the team an admirable performance, striking out five while allowing three runs on eight hits in 6.0 innings, and senior closer Daniel Latham came on in the eighth to thwart a two-on, no-out rally in the eighth inning to pick up his ninth save of the year. Emaus led all players by going 4-for-4 with an RBI triple, and McFadden was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three RBI. The duo were two of six Tulane players to post multiple-hit contests as senior infielder Tim Guidry, sophomore centerfielder Nate Simon, sophomore designated hitter Aja Barto and sophomore infielder Seth Henry tallied two hits apiece. With Tulane leading 7-4 after seven and a half innings, Golden Eagles' right fielder Michael Ewing sparked a rally in the home half of the seventh with a leadoff triple and centerfielder Jody Blount walk to put runners at the corners and bring Latham from the bullpen. Latham induced a fly ball off the bat of Luke Atkins for a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to two, but pitched his way around a two-out single to thwart the rally and tossed a perfect ninth to close the door. Tulane out-hit Southern Miss, 17-12, but the difference in the ballgame was timely hitting as the Golden Eagles stranded a season-high 16 runners on base. Southern Miss left the bases loaded twice, and left two on in the third, fifth, seventh and eighth innings. "They left a lot of guys on but we had to make our pitches and we did," Jones said. "You have to give credit to our guys there. When you look at it, the two teams we had 29 hits and it's a 7-5 ballgame, (so) you know there was some pretty good defense. Southern Miss is really solid defensively and they made some good plays. (Both teams) made some pitches with runners on." The Golden Eagles opened the scoring in the first when first baseman Trey Sutton hit a leadoff triple and scored on an RBI-groundout by third baseman James Ewing. Tulane, however, tied the game in the second on an RBI-single by sophomore catcher Jared Dyer and took the lead for good one inning later when Emaus scored on McFadden's first RBI-double of the day. Tulane stretched the lead in the fourth courtesy of Emaus' RBI-triple and a run-scoring single by McFadden, and added a run in the sixth when Simon hit a leadoff double, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Dyer and scored on an RBI-single by Barto to make it a 6-1 affair. Southern Miss answered with a two-run homer by designated hitter Trey Cuevas in the sixth, and the two teams traded runs in the seventh. The Green Wave got an insurance run in the eighth on an RBI-single by junior shortstop Cat Everett, and the combination of Latham and rookie right-hander Preston Claiborne were able to keep the Golden Eagles at arm's reach the rest of the way. "I thought Sean again just did not have his normal command and rhythm, but he certainly battled and he got us into the seventh inning," Jones said. "For Sean, that was big. He gave up one in the first, pitched out of two bases-loaded jams and got us into the sixth inning there and just left a ball up (on Cuevas' homer). He really pitched well. Claiborne got a big out for us in the seventh, and Daniel did as he has done so many times." 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. |
 
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