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Green Wave Defeat South Florida 4-3 In C-USA Tournament Opener
May 21, 2003 NEW ORLEANS, La. - Junior catcher Brian Bormaster went 2-for-2 with a sacrifice fly and three RBI, and starting pitcher Cory Hahn scattered six hits in 6.1 innings of work, as the Tulane University baseball team won a 4-3 nail-biter over sixth-seeded South Florida in the opening round of the Conference USA Tournament Wednesday night at Turchin Stadium. Green Wave reliever Joey Charron kept things interesting during the final 2.2 innings of work as the Bulls scored an unearned run in the seventh, had two on and one out in the eighth and put the tying run in scoring position in the ninth, but the junior southpaw bounced back to get out of the innings with a flyout, double play and a pair of strikeouts, respectively, to earn his 11th save of the year. With the win, Tulane snapped a three-game losing streak in the first round of C-USA Tournament games dating back to the 2000 season, to improve to 41-16 on the year. Tulane will face seventh-seeded Louisville in round two on Thursday with first pitch slated for 7:30 p.m. South Florida, meanwhile, falls to 30-26 overall and will take on No. 2 seed TCU in an elimination game tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. Tulane drew first blood in the third inning as sophomore second baseman Tommy Manzella singled to open the frame, advanced to third on a base-hit to left by junior third baseman Turner Brumby, and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Bormaster to stake the Green Wave ahead 1-0.
South Florida tied the score in the fourth courtesy of an RBI groundout by left fielder Travis Brown to plate shortstop Myron Leslie from third, but Tulane erupted for three runs in the bottom of the frame to apparently take control of the contest.
The Bulls, however, had other plans as South Florida plated single runs in the sixth and seventh before Charron put the game away. C-USA Player of the Year Michael Aubrey opened the fourth with a leadoff double, and South Florida starter Jon Uhl had a tough time finding the strike zone as the junior right-hander issued walks to sophomore left fielder Wes Swackhamer and Manzella to load the bases. Brumby fell behind Uhl 1-2, but battled back to bring to work the count full and fouled off four consecutive pitches before drawing a walk to bring Aubrey home. Bormaster followed with a smoked single down the third-base line to plate Swackhamer and Manzella. South Florida answered with a leadoff single by centerfielder Mike Cunningham in the sixth and the Bulls loaded the bases with back-to-back, one-out singles by Leslie and cleanup hitter Devin Ivany, but Hahn got out of the inning with minimal damage done as Brown lifted a sacrifice fly to left and starting right fielder Scott Rachlin popped out to second to end the frame. The Bulls took advantage of an errant pickoff attempt by Charron to move runners to second and third, and Cunningham brought designated hitter Allen Shirley home with a 4-3 groundout to account for the final score. The 2003 Conference USA Tournament begins the second round of play on Thursday, May 22 with a pair of elimination games as fifth-seeded East Carolina battles No. 8 seed Charlotte at 9 a.m. before the Bulls take on the Cardinals at 12:30. In the winner's bracket, fourth-seeded Houston will battle C-USA regular-season champs Southern Miss at 4 p.m. before the Green Wave plays host to the Cardinals at 7:30 p.m. For ticket information, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE. |
 
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