Tulane closes regular season with 8-6 win over UConn

Four 💣plus a 💎 from @csolesky7 ends the regular season with a W! #RollWave #SlapTheWall pic.twitter.com/P0LnfqUNJY

— Tulane Baseball (@GreenWaveBSB) May 18, 2019

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Tulane Green Wave baseball team got seven-inning gem from Chase Solesky on the mound, while belting four home runs as a team in an 8-6 win over the UConn Huskies on Saturday afternoon at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

Tulane (31-24, 12-11 American) scored five runs over the course of the first three innings, getting three more in the sixth as the Huskies (33-22, 12-12) couldn’t find any footing offensively until the final two innings of the game plating five of their six runs in the eighth and ninth.

“Winning is not easy, and obviously we’ve had a little bit of a tougher time doing that here down the stretch,” head coach Travis Jewett said. “Hopefully this win helps us get us on a roll here down the stretch going into the conference tournament.”

The Green Wave produced 11 hits in the win, paced by Grant Mathews who went 3-for-5 with a home run, three RBI and a run scored. Hudson Haskin was 2-for-3 with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored. Mathews, Haskin, David Bedgood and Sal Gozzo accounted for the four Tulane home runs.

Solesky (6-3) held UConn to a single run on three hits with four strikeouts and two walks in the start Saturday, as he retired the first two batters of the inning in five consecutive innings.

UConn starter Randy Polonia (1-1) suffered the loss allowing three runs on two hits with two walks and a strikeout, unable to make it out of the very first inning. The Huskies used six pitchers in the game and all but one gave up runs to Tulane.

Anthony Prato and David Langer each had two hits for the Huskies, with Langer driving in two and Prato driving in one.

Trevor Jensen drew a walk to open the Tulane first, as after a strikeout Haskin singled to right center to give the Green Wave the 1-0 lead. Mathews pushed the lead to three with one swing, hitting a home run to right to make it 3-0 Tulane.

UConn got a run on two hits to make it a two-score game, but in the bottom of the second with two outs and two runners on, Mathews singled up the middle to drive in his third run of the day and push the Tulane lead to 4-1.

Bedgood needed three pitches in his at bat to begin the third before sending one over the fence in right to extend Tulane’s lead to 5-1. After a few scoreless innings for both sides, Gozzo changed that in the opening at-bat of the sixth with a solo shot to make it 6-1 Green Wave. Jensen was hit by a pitch in the same inning, and after a fly out, Haskin drilled one to left for the two-run shot to make it 8-1 Tulane.

The Huskies plated two runs on three hits in the eighth, getting three more in the ninth before the Green Wave closed the door and clinched the win.

POSTSEASON FOR WAVE STARTS TUESDAY

Tulane will begin its quest for the 2019 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship title on Tuesday night in Clearwater, Florida, taking on the UCF Knights.

Tulane, seeded third for the 2019 version of the league’s championship, is on the side of the bracket that also features No. 2 seed Cincinnati, the sixth-seeded Knights and No. 7 seed Memphis. The top half features No. 1 overall seed and 2019 league champion ECU, No. 4 seed UConn, No. 5 seed Houston and No. 8 seed Wichita State.

The Green Wave and Knights will take to the field approximately 47 minutes following the conclusion of Cincinnati-Memphis which will begin at 3 p.m. CT in Florida.

In the regular season series, Tulane won the opener against UCF in New Orleans 6-2, before dropping the next two games 4-2 and 5-2.

The American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship runs from May 21-26 at Spectrum Field featuring a double-elimination format. The American Digital Network will have coverage of the first five days of the tournament, with ESPNews broadcasting the single-game final on Sunday at 11 a.m. CT.