Tulane takes down Cal State Fullteron in extras to win series

FULLERTON, Calif. – It took nearly eight innings to break the tie, but the Tulane baseball team came through when it counted by plating three runs on three hits in the top of the 13th inning to take the lead for good and hold on for the 6-4 victory over the Cal State Fullerton Titans Sunday to claim the series at Goodwin Field.

With no score from either side since the fourth inning, Tulane (6-1) finally broke through with another multi-run inning to take the lead for the third time against the Titans (3-4), closing the door in the bottom half of the inning to end the contest 4 hours and 46 minutes after it began.

The Green Wave finished the contest with 13 hits in the win, getting three hits each from Grant Mathews who produced two doubles and Ethan Groff who had a double and an RBI. Trevor Minder had two hits, drove in two and scored twice, while also drawing two walks.

For the second time this week, freshman Luke Jannetta (2-0) stepped up to keep an opposing team at bay during a key stretch of the game, pitching 4.2 shutout innings to earn the win, allowing three hits with two strikeouts and a walk. In his first appearance of the year, redshirt senior Trent Johnson (1) picked up the save getting the final three outs in the 13th.

Tulane got on the board first, getting a double from Mathews before getting another from Minder to put the Green Wave on top 1-0 in the top of the second inning.

The Titans didn’t trail for long, as the home side capitalized with runners on base in the bottom half of the inning, getting a 2-RBI single up the middle to take its first lead up 2-1.

A pair of innings later, Minder came through for the second time on the day as he roped a single on the first pitch of his at-bat of the Tulane fourth to right field scoring Frankie Niemann to tie the game at 2-2. Minder eventually came around to score later in the inning on a wild pitch to re-take the lead with Tulane up 3-2.

Cal State Fullerton used that same inning to tie the game once more, getting an RBI single to left to plate an unearned run due to an error earlier in the inning to knot the game at 3-3.

Both sides had opportunities to end the game at some point over the course of the extra frames, but it took until the 13th when Mathews smoked a double to wall in right center to open the inning, moving to third after a sacrifice bunt from Niemann.

A walk to Minder put runners at the corners, and Groff came through with the bunt single to the right side of the infield to plate Mathews and break the tie to go up 4-3. Collin Burns wasted no time in adding to the lead, ripping a single to the outfield to make it 5-3. Haydan Hastings pushed the final run across with a sacrifice bunt to score Groff to push the Green Wave lead to 6-3.

A leadoff single for the Titans in the bottom of the inning eventually came around to score, but it wouldn’t be enough for the home side to make a game of it late as Tulane stood firm for the victory.

Up Next

Tulane opens the Pelican Cup series with the New Orleans Privateers on Wednesday, with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

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