Tulane runs past South Alabama in fall baseball exhibition

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Tulane baseball team got its first chance to play in front of a home crowd in the fall before the real thing begins next February against the South Alabama Jaguars and came away with 5-3 and 11-7 wins Saturday afternoon at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

The Green Wave used South Alabama miscues in the first game while pounding out 10 hits, while in the second game the offense once again sprang to life producing 11 runs on 12 hits in the nightcap.

“It’s a good day just because we came out ahead on the scoreboard twice. Anytime you have a chance to compete, especially against outside competition, it’s good to be able to win,” head coach Travis Jewett said. “I think we’re trying to learn how to play, but these are the important things in the fall when you play outside competition is to learn how to win. We found ourselves today 2-0 so that’s good.”

Tulane was able to play well in all three phases on Saturday, not committing an error in either of the two games, while save for one inning in the second contest was able to hold the South Alabama offense at bay.

“I thought we had some opportunistic at-bats and we played solid defense,” Jewett said. “I think our catching is much improved, we handled the ball throughout the day well. The difference in the first game was that they were a bit loose and we were able to be secure with the ball all day long. And other than the one hiccup inning, we were pretty good on the mound too.”

Tulane was able to get solid performances throughout the lineup, getting multi-hit afternoons from players like Hudson Haskin, Grant Mathews, Trevor Minder, among others.

On the mound, Tulane got quality innings from newcomers like Braden Olthoff, David Bates and Donovan Benoit, while also returners in Keagan Gillies, Robert Price and others.

Ty Johnson opened the Tulane register in the first with a single to second base. An infield grounder moved Johnson to second, and after a popup Mathews singled up the middle to give Tulane a 1-0 lead.

South Alabama knotted the contest at 1-1 in the second, as in the Tulane third with two outs Luis Aviles was hit by a pitch to take first, and it proved huge as on the next play an error out in right field allowed the catcher to come around and score to put Tulane back on top 2-1.

Following a two-run inning by the Jaguars to make it a 3-2 game, Tulane took to the fifth and got two runners on after David Bedgood was walked and Haskin singled to center with an error in the outfield moving the two up a base to put both in scoring position. Mathews got the sacrifice with a fly to right, scoring Bedgood to tie the game at 3-3.

Haskin was caught in a rundown after an Aviles fielder’s choice, while Aviles was able to move to second during the commotion. Minder singled up the middle to plate the second Tulane run of the inning to put Tulane back up 4-3.

In the very next inning, Jonathon Artigues doubled to right to open the Green Wave sixth, but couldn’t get in under the tag at home plate after Johnson singled through the right side. With Johnson at second after the throw came in, Colin Burns singled to right and the outfielder scored on a fielding error to give Tulane its final run of the first game at 5-3.

In the second half of the day’s action, Luke Glancy smoked a double off the wall in left with an out in the bottom of the third. Bedgood stepped up next and gave Tulane the early lead up 1-0 with an RBI single. In the fourth, Haskin ripped a double down the line in left, as after a fly out Haydan Hastings singled up the middle to push the lead to 2-0.

South Alabama used its first two hits of the second game to scratch a run across to make it 2-1 Green Wave in the top of the fifth, but in the sixth Burns drew a walk, Haskin was hit by a pitch and singles for Mathews and Hastings eventually brought across a Tulane run to make it 3-1.

After a South Alabama pitching change, two hit batters prompted another call to the bullpen as the move did little good for the Jaguars as by the time the team was through with the inning the Green Wave scored eight runs on six hits, with four hit batters to push the lead to 10-1 over South Alabama.

The Jaguars were able to put a sizeable dent into that Tulane lead with a big seventh inning, scoring six runs in a frame that only featured two hits, but had four walks and two hit batters to pull to within three of the Green Wave at 10-7.

“It’s like I told the guys at the end, when you score eight that’s separation,” Jewett said. “You give yourself a big lead, you can take some blows there. But we were able to contain the inning and Luis’ swing late separates the game a little bit and gave us a little bit of momentum back.”

In the bottom of the eighth, Aviles found a pitched he liked and sent it over the left field fence to lead off the inning with the solo shot to push the lead to four to make it 11-7 Tulane.

“All in all a good day, saw a lot of good things on the mound, we got a lot of guys in the game and you can’t ask for much more than that,” Jewett said.

Tulane will now prepare for its five-game Fall Ball World Series, which begins Saturday, November 16 at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

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