May 6, 2005

Final Stats

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Junior utility athlete Micah Owings went 2-for-3 with a home run and five RBI from the plate, and struck out nine in a six-inning start on the mound as the No. 1 Tulane University baseball team defeated Conference USA foe Memphis, 13-2, in the series opener Friday evening at Turchin Stadium.

All nine Green Wave starters had at least one hit before the end of the fourth inning, with junior right fielder Brian Bogusevic and senior outfielder Matt Barket leading the way with three hits apiece. Owings, whose league-leading 14th home run of the year was a three-run shot that sailed high over the light stand in left field in second, was one of three Tulane student-athletes to go yard on the day as freshman Brad Emaus ripped a solo shot with one out in the first and sophomore first baseman Mark Hamilton hammered a two-run blast in the second prior to Owings' jaw-dropping bomb.

"We really had some great at-bats early," Tulane head coach Rick Jones said. "I would have liked to have seen us score more late. We mixed some things up and had some runners on. We just had some really great at-bats, Micah set the tone, and we played well defensively again."

With the victory, Tulane improves to 40-8 on the year to become the first NCAA Division I program to hit the 40-win plateau in 2005. The Green Wave has now posted at least 40 wins in nine of Jones' 12-year tenure at the uptown New Orleans institution, and ties the school record for the fastest run at 40 wins (48 games), which was set initially by the 2001 College World Series squad.

The win also allowed Tulane to maintain its one-game lead over TCU in the C-USA standings as the Green Wave improve to 17-5 in league play. Memphis, meanwhile, falls to 10-34 overall and 4-18 in conference action.

Emaus' homer in the first put Tulane on the board, and the Green Wave would plate a season-best nine runs in the second to make it a runaway. The boys in olive green and sky blue would add another three in the third, but Memphis relievers Tim Senter, Drew Jaudon, Chris Davis and Chris South combined to keep the Green Wave off the board over the final six innings. Memphis avoided the shutout with a two-out, two-run double off the bat of first baseman Adam Amar in the sixth to account for the final score.

The Green Wave also had solid relief appearances from redshirt-junior Ricky Fairchild and redshirt-freshman Chris Worster - both right handers - as the duo kept Memphis hitless over the final three innings and Fairchild posted a career-high five strikeouts.

The story of the game, however, was Owings, who improved to 6-4 on the year after giving up two runs on three hits and just two walks in his 12th start of the year. After grounding out in the first on a play the Tulane dugout argued as a foul ball, Owings clubbed a three-run shot in his next at-bat and came up with a two-run single in the third. For the season, Owings is now hitting .326 with a .729 slugging percentage while lowing his ERA to 3.78 to go along with 91 strikeouts and a .231 opponent batting average.

Hamilton got the big inning started with a two-run shot to left three at-bats into the second. Barket followed with a single, junior Nathan Southard was hit by a pitch, and Emaus walked to load the bases before senior shortstop Tommy Manzella lifted a sacrifice fly to center to make it a 4-0 ballgame.

Bogusevic followed with an RBI-single to center, and Owings turned on a first-pitch offering from Memphis starter Nick Bradshaw that sent the Green Wave fans into a frenzy. A single by senior catcher Greg Dini chased Bradshaw from the contest, senior second baseman Joe Holland hit a single off Senter, and Hamilton ripped a double to right central for his third and fourth RBI of the inning.

Senter was able to get out of the inning without any further damage done, but Emaus, Manzella, Bogusevic and Owings would hit consecutive, one-out singles in the third to put Tulane ahead, 13-0.

Tulane and Memphis will continue the weekend on Saturday at 4 p.m. in a game that will be televised statewide on Cox Sports Television (local channel 37), and the two teams close out the series on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. For ticket information, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE.

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