Tulane takes on league leaders ECU this weekend

NEW ORLEANS, La. – A three-game series between the top two teams in The American Athletic Conference gets underway this weekend as the Tulane baseball team heads to North Carolina to take on the No. 11 ECU Pirates at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

The series begins Friday at 5:30 p.m. CT in Greenville, with game two on Saturday set for a 3 p.m. CT start and the finale kicking off at 11 a.m. CT on Sunday. All three games of the series will air on WRBH 88.3 FM locally in New Orleans with Todd Graffagnini, with a link to live stats and a live video stream provided by ECU available on TulaneGreenWave.com.

The Green Wave head into the showdown with the Pirates this weekend looking to earn their first series victory in Clark-LeClair Stadium since 2012, as Tulane is 26-14 overall and 8-3 in the American Athletic Conference.

Tulane will be looking to bounce back after a defeat at the hands of the Southeastern Louisiana Lions at home on Tuesday night, falling 10-3. In league play, however, the team has taken six of the last eight games they’ve played against American opponents and has not dropped a weekend series since early March.

The matchup this weekend will pit two of the conference’s most prolific teams on the field together, as Tulane comes in with its league-leading .310 batting average and 442 total hits, against ECU’s 3.34 team ERA and .230 opponent batting average.

Tulane boasts the top two hitters in the conference led by Golden Spikes candidate Kody Hoese and his .417 batting average with 21 home runs to lead the nation, followed by freshman Hudson Haskin who is batting .378 after earning his third straight game with three hits Tuesday night against Southeastern.

Hoese and senior Trevor Jensen lead the conference with 70 and 65 hits, respectively, where as a team Tulane is averaging 8.9 runs per game which is fifth nationally.

The Pirates’ pitching staff ranks in the top 10 nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio, WHIP and walks allowed per nine innings, while sitting 16th in ERA. Offensively, ECU is second to Tulane with a .289 batting average and 390 hits as a team.

ECU has won their last six overall coming into the weekend, with wins over UNCW at home and Old Dominion on the road on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Pirates’ only loss in conference came in the series opener at Houston, as they’ve swept UCF, USF and UConn already this year.

Tulane Green Wave (26-14, 8-3) vs. No. 11 ECU Pirates (31-10, 11-1)
April 26 – 5:30 p.m. (Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium)
April 27 – 3 p.m. (Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium)
April 28 – 11 a.m. (Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium)

TV
None

Live Stream
ECUPirates.com/showcase

Radio
WRBH 88.3 FM
PBP – Todd Graffagnini

Pitching Matchups
Friday
Tulane: Kaleb Roper
ECU: Jake Agnos

Saturday
Tulane: Keagan Gillies
ECU: Jake Kuchmaner

Saturday
Tulane: Chase Solesky
ECU: Tyler Smith

Around the Horn
Tulane hits the road for an American Athletic Conference series for the second consecutive weekend, taking on the 11th-ranked ECU Pirates in Greenville.

The meeting is between the top two teams in The American standings.

Tulane is halfway through conference play, with four weeks remaining in the regular season.

ECU is the second top-15 ranked team Tulane will play this season at the time of competition.

The matchup this weekend features the league’s top offense in Tulane, against the conference’s best pitching staff in ECU.

Up Next
Tulane takes on the New Orleans Privateers in the third game of the Pelican Cup series on Tuesday night at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

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