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Early Lead Helps Baseball Down C-USA Foe UAB 11-8
April 18, 2003 NEW ORLEANS, La. - It was not always pretty, but for the Tulane University baseball team and its fans, it sure was sweep as the Green Wave defeated Conference USA foe UAB 11-8 Friday evening at Turchin Stadium. The game featured 26 hits, six errors, two wild pitches and a balk, but the Green Wave found a way to win to run its home winning streak to 18 games dating back to Feb. 16 when Tulane defeated George Mason 13-1 in a 10-run rule shortened seven-inning contest. With the victory, Tulane improves to 27-12 on the year and, with some help other league teams, moved into a tie for third place in C-USA with a 10-6 mark. UAB, meanwhile, falls to 21-15 overall and 6-9 in conference play. Tulane jumped out to a 7-0 lead after two, including a leadoff homer by senior centerfielder Jonny Kaplan and a grand slam by sophomore left fielder Wes Swackhamer in the first, but the Blazers would score four in the third and make things interesting the rest of the way. Freshman right-hander Billy Mohl came on in the fifth and gave the Green Wave three solid innings of relief, and junior Joey Charron tossed the final two frames to seal the Tulane win. Tulane got things going early on with Kaplan's leadoff bomb and Swackhamer's slam to account for five runs in the first, and the Green Wave added a pair in the second on and RBI groundout off the bat of junior first baseman Michael Aubrey and a wild pitch by UAB reliever Lyle Northington that allowed junior shortstop to score from third to make it 7-0.
UAB roared back in the third with a pair of walks sandwiched around a base hit by Mitch Jones to load the bases with two outs. Clean-up hitter Daniel Hill made the free passes hurt one at-bat later with a two-RBI single, third baseman Drew Connell followed with an RBI-single of his own, and Hill scored all the way from first on the play courtesy of a Tulane error to cut the lead to 7-4.
Tulane pushed the lead back to four in the fourth when Kaplan doubled, advanced to third on a single by Giarratano, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Aubrey, but UAB came right back in the fifth with a towering, two-run homer by Hill to make it 8-6. The Green Wave got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Swackhamer singled, went to third on a base hit by sophomore second baseman Tommy Manzella, and came plateward on a sacrifice fly off the bat of junior catcher Brian Bormaster, but following a scoreless sixth, Blazer second baseman Drew Goneke led off the seventh with a walk, advanced the bases on a single and a deep fly ball to center, and scored on an RBI-fielder's choice by Connell to make it 9-7. Tulane took advantage of a pair of UAB throwing errors in the home half of the inning to score a two unearned runs without the benefit of a base hit as freshman right fielder Nathan Southard reached on the Blazers' first miscue and touched the paystation one at-bat later when Swackhamer reached on UAB's second error of the frame. Swackhamer went to third on a 6-3 groundout by Manzella, and following a Bormaster walk, freshman third baseman Tim Guidry scored Swackhamer with a sacrifice fly to shallow center to account for the Green Wave's final runs. UAB got an unearned run in the eighth when Eugene Rodriguez hit a leadoff single, advanced the bases on a failed pickoff and a wild pitch, and scored on a single by Jones, but Charron bounced back to strike out three-hole hitter Kyle Leon to get out of the inning without any more damage done, and tossed a scoreless ninth to close out the contest. Tulane starter Brian Bogusevic got his first non-decision as a starter after giving up five runs (four earned) in four innings, striking out two and walking three, while Mohl (4-1) earned the victory with a solid relief appearance. UAB starter Lucas Trotter, who threw just 31 pitchers in one-plus innings, was tagged with the loss after giving up six earned runs on six hits with one strikeout. Tulane also touched Northington with a run in the second, but the Blazers got a solid relief appearance from Jeff Brown who pitched the final six innings of the game, giving up four runs (two earned) on seven hits with two strikeouts and four walks. Tulane and UAB continue the series on Saturday with a 2 p.m. start, and close out the weekend on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. |
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