|
Tulane Falls To Southern Miss 7-5 In C-USA Championship Game
May 25, 2003 NEW ORLEANS, La. - Junior catcher Brian Bormaster went 3-for-4 with a three-run homer, while junior first baseman Michael Aubrey and sophomore second baseman Tommy Manzella each had two hits, but it was not enough as the Tulane University baseball team dropped a 7-5 decision to regular-season champion Southern Miss in the Conference USA Championship game Sunday afternoon at Turchin Stadium. With the score tied at 5-all after seven innings, Southern Miss plated a pair of runs in the eighth courtesy of a sacrifice fly by first baseman Marc Maddox and an RBI-single up the middle by centerfielder Jeff Cook to account for the final score. The Green Wave had a chance to tie the score in the top of the ninth as Bormaster hit a leadoff single, but Golden Eagle closer Austin Tubb retired the next two batters he faced before Aubrey flew out deep to center to end the contest. While both teams will likely make the NCAA Regionals, Southern Miss claimed the league's automatic bid with the tournament championship as the Golden Eagles improve to 45-14 on the year. Tulane, meanwhile, falls to 43-17 overall. The Green Wave, along with the rest of the country, will learn their postseason destination on Monday at 11:30 a.m. when the Regional brackets are announced on ESPN2. Bormaster, Manzella and freshman pitcher Billy Mohl were named to the All-Tournament Team, and Southern Miss put outfielders Cook, Clint King and Jason Lowery along with infielder Beau Griffin on the tourney squad. Other all-tournament honorees were infielders Darryl Lawhorn of East Carolina and J.T. LaFountain of Louisville, designated hitter Allen Shirley of South Florida and pitcher Jason Tourangeau of East Carolina.
The game featured 19 hits - including 10 by the Green Wave - and five lead changes, but the difference in the game was four errors by Tulane that led to a pair of unearned runs. Tulane committed a pair of costly miscues in the Clint King reached on an error to lead off the frame, and following a double by Griff Israel, Jarrett Hoffpauir lifted a sacrifice fly to left that fell out of the glove of Wes Swackhamer to put runners on the corners with nobody out. King scored on the sacrifice play, and Lowery plated Israel with an RBI-groundout to short.
Things could have been worse for the Green Wave in the stanza as Griffin reached on Tulane's second error of the inning, and following a fly out to right by shortstop Matt Shepherd, Maddox drew a two out walk to load the bases. From there, Cook ripped a would-be base hit up the middle, but Manzella gloved the ball and flipped to junior shortstop Tony Giarratano at second to get out of the inning without any more further damage done. Southern Miss drew first blood in the second inning when King hit a solo home run to right, and following a walk by Israel and a base hit by Hoffpauir, Lowery ripped an RBI-single back through the box to give the Golden Eagles a 2-0 lead. The advantage would not last long, however, as Tulane answered in the top of the third with base hits by Manzella and junior third baseman Turner Brumby before Bormaster hit his third home run of the year over the wall in left to put the Green Wave ahead 3-2. After a scoreless fourth, Southern Miss tied the score in the fifth with a solo homer by first baseman Maddox, and the Golden Eagles plated a pair of unearned runs in Tulane's error-plagued sixth. The Green Wave tied the game in the top of the seventh when Aubrey turned on the first pitch offered by Golden Eagle reliever Bob McCrory over the wall in right to make it a 5-5 ballgame. The Green Wave had a chance to break the deadlock in the top of the eighth sophomore left fielder Wes Swackhamer hit a leadoff single to put the go-ahead run on base, John Nicholas - the fourth Southern Miss pitcher of the day - pounced on a sacrifice bunt attempt by sophomore designated hitter Gerald Clark and threw out Swackhamer out at second. Substitute right fielder Nathan Southard followed with a walk, and Tulane had runners on the corners with two out after a groundout by Manzella, but Tubb got Brumby to groundout to first in the next at-bat to strand the go-ahead run at third base. The missed opportunity hurt even more in the bottom of the frame when Southern Miss scored the go ahead runs and went on to win the game and the C-USA Tourney title. Tubb got the win out of the bullpen, holding Tulane scoreless in 1.2 innings of work to improve to 3-1, while Tulane junior reliever Joey Charron was saddled with the loss after giving up a pair of runs in the eighth to fall to 3-7 on the season. 2003 Conference USA All-Tournament Team |
 
|
