Eight-spot in 11th inning, 5 homers lift Green Wave over Owls

HOUSTON – Tulane’s baseball team erupted for eight runs in the top of the 11th inning to shock host Rice with a 14-7 victory at Reckling Park Friday evening.

The game was the American Athletic Conference opener for both schools.

The Green Wave improved to 14-8 overall, while Rice dropped to 8-14.

Tulane got round-trippers from catcher Colin Tuft, first baseman Brady Marget, center fielder Teo Banks, shortstop Marcus Cline and left fielder Jackson Linn in an offensive effort that produced 16 hits, half of which were of the extra-base variety.

Cline had a game-high four hits and drove in three runs and third baseman Gavin Schulz went 3-for-4.

Rice left fielder Treyton Rank came up a homer shy of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with four RBI. Right fielder Trey Duffield scored twice and left fielder Jacob Devenny knocked in two runs.

Green Wave reliever Jacob Moore (2-1) got the win after allowing just one hit with five strikeouts in two and one-third innings.

Rice reliever Garrett Stratton (0-2) suffered the defeat as he began that tumultuous 11th frame after keeping Tulane off the board in the ninth and 10th innings. He gave up four runs on two hits with four strikeouts and three walks in two and a third innings.

The Owls jumped on top 4-0 but the Green Wave battled back and knotted the game on a two-run, opposite field bomb by Marget in the seventh.

The Green Wave jumped on top by two after the Banks homer and a run-scoring single by Cline in the eighth but Devenny tied it again at 6 with he ripped a Moore offering back through the middle in the bottom half.

Pinch-hitter Tracy Mitchem drew a bases-loaded walk in the 11th to give the Wave the only run it needed, but the visitors were far from finished. Schulz narrowly missed a grand slam when he doubled off the wall in left center and then right fielder Ben Romano lashed a ground rule double himself to the same spot of the park. Cline and Linn followed with their homers, the latter measuring at 442 feet and 109 miles per hour off the bat.

Rice got an RBI groundout in their final at-bat for the final margin.

The two teams will play the second game of the series on Saturday at 2 p.m.

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