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Baseball Gets It Done On 'D' In 4-3 Win Over Northwestern State
April 17, 2007
Box Score in PDF Format
METAIRIE, La. - Senior right-hander Matt Goebel gave the Green Wave a solid 6.0 innings of work and the defense made several highlight-reel plays behind him as the Tulane University baseball team defeated Northwestern State, 4-3, Tuesday afternoon at Zephyr Field. Tulane's defense was flawless on the day, and made big plays with the leather late in the ballgame to thwart some Demon rallies. Northwestern State erased a 3-0 deficit with a three-run third, but Goebel came back to keep the Demons off the board the rest of his outing, and senior closer Daniel Latham went the final two frames to pick up his 10th save of the season. With the win, Tulane improves to 28-11 on the year and 8-3 against teams from the state of Louisiana. Northwestern State, meanwhile, falls to 16-22 overall. "We won because we pitched enough and played great defense - not just good, but great defense," Tulane head coach Rick Jones said. "We made every play and we made some stellar ones. You don't see better plays then the three that Seth (Henry) made. Cat Everett was as steady as he could be and we caught well behind the plate." With the Green Wave clinging to a one-run advantage after seven, NSU shortstop Brandon Richey drew a walk from freshman reliever Preston Claiborne to open the eighth and bring Latham in from the bullpen. During the ensuing at-bat, Richey swiped second base, but could get no further then third thanks to a trio of stellar defensive plays by the Green Wave.
With Richey at second and nobody out in the top of the eighth, sophomore second baseman Seth Henry made a snow-cone grab of a dying quall off the bat of NSU first baseman Mike Jawarski to keep the runner 180 feet away. From there, Latham kicked a ball up the middle to keep it from going into centerfield to get right fielder Brett Johnson at first base, and junior first baseman Brad Emaus made a bare-handed catch of a spinning cap-job by third baseman Chase Lyles to end the rally. Latham limped behind the mound after taking Johnson's ball off the leg, but stayed in to pitch his way out of the eighth inning, and sat down the side in order in the ninth to spark the Tulane celebration. "They really threw the leather at us today," Northwestern State head coach Mitch Gaspard said. "They didn't have a lot of hits, but good teams find ways to win games and they certainly did throw the leather and play great defense." Tulane stormed out of the gate with a three-run first as senior third baseman Tim Guidry plated Emaus with an RBI-fielder's choice to second, and sophomore centerfielder Nate Simon ripped a two-run double to right central to stake the home team to the early lead. Demons' starter Ben Rodriguez would settle down from there to face the minimum of the next three innings, and got some help from his offense in the third. With two away, NSU centerfielder Dylan Libadisos sparked a rally with single, while Richey and Jaworski followed with a base hit and single, respectively, to load the bases. On the very next pitch, Johnson banged a double off the wall in left to clear the bases and tie the game at 3-all. Following a scoreless fourth, Tulane closed out the scoring when Emaus looped a single into shallow left to plate pinch-runner Scott Powell from second to account for the final score. Goebel (7-1) struck out a pair of NSU batters and while allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks. After the three-run third, he allowed just a pair of two-out singles - one in the fifth and another in the sixth - but no Demons' baserunner would get past second base during the duration of his outing. Claiborne fanned a pair in a scoreless seventh, and Latham retired all six batters he faced to preserve the Tulane victory. "I didn't feel like I had my great stuff today, but my defense played great behind me," Goebel said. "Coach (Chad) Sutter did a good job of calling the game, and my offense gave me enough runs to overcome the one rough inning that I had. "Coach (Mark) Kingston recruits some incredible athletes, and that was on display today. You get to see some of the athleticism that we have, and that gives you comfort as a pitcher knowing that on days where you don't necessarily have your best stuff, that if you can just throw strikes and make the other team put the ball in play, that you have some guys behind you who can pick you up." Tulane returns to C-USA action on Friday, April 20, when the Green Wave open a three-game slate against Houston at noon at "The Shrine on Airline" in a nationally-broadcast match-up on College Sports Television (DirecTV Channel 610, DISH Network Channel 152). For ticket information for this weekend's ballgames, as well as future Tulane athletic events, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at 504-861-WAVE. |
 
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