Olthoff fans 16 as Tulane earns 1-0 win in opener at Cal State Fullerton

FULLERTON, Calif. – Tulane junior Braden Olthoff hurled a complete-game three-hit shutout, striking out 16 batters to tie for the third-most by a pitcher in a single game as the Tulane baseball team opened its series with Cal State Fullerton with a 1-0 win Friday night at Goodwin Field.

At one point, Olthoff (2-0) retired 12 consecutive batters midway through the game to keep the Titan (2-3) batters frustrated for most of the night. It’s the most strikeouts in a game for a Tulane (5-0) pitcher since Kaleb Roper struck out 12 against Houston Baptist last season, as well as the last complete-game victory for a Tulane pitcher since the win over UCF by Roper in the conference tournament last May. Josh Bobbitt in 1998 was the last Green Wave pitcher to have 16 strikeouts in a contest.

Cal State Fullerton got its first two hits of the game in opening two frames and didn’t get their last until the ninth. Of the 113 pitches he threw on the night, 87 from Olthoff were for strikes. Cal State Fullerton had chances to tie or take the lead Friday, but finished the night going 0-7 with runners on base, and 0-4 with runners in scoring position.

Tulane produced six hits in the game, led by Grant Mathews who had two for the Green Wave. The first five batters in the Tulane order produced all six hits for the team, which include Haydan Hastings, as for the second consecutive Friday the junior brought in the game-winning run for the squad.

After four scoreless frames by both sides, Tulane finally came through in the top of the fifth as Trevor Minder reached on a walk and moved to first after a wild pitch, with Logan Stevens getting hit by a pitch to put two on.

A fielder’s choice put runners at the corners and two outs on the board, but not before Hastings came through on the second pitch of his at-bat with a single to left to plate Minder and make it 1-0 Green Wave.

Up Next
Tulane takes on the Titans in game two of the series Saturday night at Goodwin Field beginning at 8 p.m. CT.

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