Tulane battles past Houston, 11-10, to even series

HOUSTON – The Tulane University baseball team (24-11-1) tied up the series versus Houston (22-13) by a score of 11-10 on Friday night inside Darryl & Lori Schroeder Park.

Dylan Carmouche made the walk to the mound first for Tulane today. Pitching 4.2 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out two.

Tulane crossed home twice in the top of the first inning. Leadoff Ethan Groff swatted one out to the shortstop to get on base. Luis Aviles was walked, putting two on for the Wave before Bennett Lee laced one through the left side to score Groff. Aviles slid home on a Houston error to give Tulane the 2-0 lead.

Houston would cut the lead in the bottom of the second inning by scoring one. The Cougars would add two more in the bottom of the third on a two-run homer to take a 3-2 lead over the Green Wave.

Brady Hebert would get walked to kick off the fifth inning. Groff found a hole in right field for a triple to score Hebert. A sacrifice-fly from Aviles would score Groff giving Tulane the 4-3 lead. The Cougars would knot it up at four off a homer in the bottom of the inning.

In the sixth Houston brought in three runs in the bottom of the inning to pull ahead of Tulane 7-4.

The crack of the Tulane bat was heard four times in the top of the seventh. Hebert and Groff would both get base hits, bringing Jackson Linn up to the plate where he would hit a single past the shortstop to score Hebert. Lee got in on the action with a familiar Tulane double to score Groff and tied the score 7-7.

The Momentum stayed with Tulane in the top of the eighth. Trevor Minder slipped one through the left side to get on base for Hebert, who launched a ball into the parking lot for his first home run of the season. Groff came up to the place next and liked the first pitch he saw, sending a no-doubter over the left wall to bring the score to 10-7.

Groff finished the ballgame with four hits and two runs batted in, hitting .419 on the day to maintain the best average on the team.

Reliever Zach Devito would come to the mound for Tulane in the bottom of the eighth, but Houston wouldn’t go quietly, earning three runs on one hit. Tying up the score, 10-10.

The only hit of the ninth inning came from sophomore Jake LaPrarie, doubling one out to left field. LaPrarie would slip by the shortstop throwing down Englehard at first before scoring on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Minder to give Tulane the 11-10 lead.

Houston wouldn’t be able to tie up the score in the ninth. Groff grabbed a fly ball near the wall and Devito retired the last two batters of the game to give Tulane the series-tying victory.

UP NEXT: The series will be decided at 1 p.m. tomorrow.