Tulane baseball faced off against American Athletic Conference foe and nationally ranked No. 15 Central Florida this weekend at Turchin Stadium. The Wave won the series 2-1, as it beating UCF 3-0 Friday and 10-0 Sunday, but lost 8-0 Saturday. 

Sophomore pitcher Corey Merrill pitched well Friday to lead the Wave to a win. Merrill tossed 5.2 innings and struck out several batters. Tulane took an early lead and scored another run in the eighth inning to win 3-0.

UCF turned the tide around Friday and beat the Wave 8-0. UCF scored in the first, third and ninth inning, and its pitching staff dominated Tulane’s offense. The Wave put just two runners on base during the game. 

The Wave’s offense burst back to life Sunday and delivered an outpouring of runs. Tulane scored twice in third inning and then again in the fourth and sixth inning. Tulane scored another six runs in the seventh inning to finish the game and win the series because of the NCAA’s 10-run rule after seven innings of play.

“I think every team has holes and I think every team has a way to attack them,” baseball head coach David Pierce said. “Our pitchers just did that. They attacked the strike-zone the right way, they stayed a pitch ahead of them, and executed pitches. I thought it was a great effort by the entire staff. It was an outstanding effort. Everybody was in the game and everybody was expecting to win the series today. That’s was we have to get to, we have to expect to win the series, expect to win the game.”

Tulane next plays No. 1 LSU 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at in Baton Rouge, La.