Offense erupts late as Tulane takes series over UCF

Giving the people what they want! @jhartknows #RollWave pic.twitter.com/1qBhvAavKU

— Tulane Green Wave Baseball (@GreenWaveBSB) May 16, 2021

NEW ORLEANS — Sophomore Collin Burns had a career-high five RBI thanks to his first career grand slam to lead the Tulane University baseball team (28-18, 17-6 AAC) to a 14-7 win over UCF (24-28, 14-14 AAC) on Sunday inside Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

Burns, who is the only member of the team to have started all 46 games this season, finished the day by going 3-for-5 at the plate.

With the win, the Green Wave improved to 6-1 in conference series finales this year. The Green Wave moved to 20-11 in home games this season.

Tulane also should its grit, as it rallied back for its second win of the weekend when trailing after six innings. Prior to this weekend, Tulane owned a 3-13 mark when trailing after six innings.

The Green Wave had its most productive game of the season at the plate today, as it scored a season-best 14 runs. The Wave had five extra base hits and leadoff hitters posted a .625 average.

“We play until the umpire throws the balls out of the field and says it’s time to go,” head coach Travis Jewett said. “So I’m proud of our guys for that.”

The Wave started and ended strong scoring five runs in the first two innings and nine runs in the last two innings.

“I feel like we’re always one swing away even if we’re not necessarily one swing away,” Burns said.

The mound saw a multitude of Green Wave pitchers in this afternoon’s contest. Sophomore Tyler Hoffman started it off, he worked 1.2 innings and gave up four runs on four hits. Senior Trent Johnson followed with only two runs on five hits in 3.1 innings of work. Junior Clifton Slagel, junior Justin Campbell, junior David Bates, senior Keagan Gillies, and graduate student Robert Price had a combined effort of 4.0 innings and gave up only one run on two hits.

The Knights had a two-run lead going into the seventh when the Tulane bats came alive. Freshman Chase Engelhard scored on a fielding error and junior Trevor Minder came through in a big way with a two-out double to centerfield which put the Green Wave ahead 8-7.

Back on top!! @tminder3 coming in clutch. #RollWave pic.twitter.com/QamtiOZ0AO

— Tulane Green Wave Baseball (@GreenWaveBSB) May 16, 2021

The Green Wave took advantage of a couple of free passes scoring on back-to-back wild pitches to start the eighth. Sophomore Jared Hart added two more runs with his first home run of the season. The final two runs were thanks to consecutive RBI singles from Minder and Burns.

UP NEXT
Tulane returns to action on Thursday as it heads to Cincinnati for the start of a four-game series.

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