Tulane’s baseball team has been a shining star in a struggling athletic program in recent years. This season the team started off more reflective of the program as a whole. Despite the slow start, its win against LSU (20-10, 5-4 SEC) on March 28 could serve as momentum for the rest of the season.

The Green Wave (12-17, 2-1 American Athletic Conference) defeated the Tigers 7-6 in Baton Rouge, holding off an LSU rally in the bottom of the ninth inning, securing the win.

LSU, now ranked 13th in the nation, was No. 6 at the time, meaning the Tigers’ loss against the Wave will likely have significant implications for its seeding in regional rounds before the College Baseball World Series.

The ability of Tulane to defeat one of the best teams in the nation in an away game is a testament to the Wave’s talent on the field and will breed confidence moving forward.

“We have guys all around the dirt out there that I know the pitchers trust,” head coach Travis Jewett said to Tulane Athletics. “If they can get the ball down in the zone and get it on the ground, we’re going to cover some turf.”

If Tulane’s pitching staff continues to generate quality starts, along with quality defensive play and offensive production from position players, the Green Wave will be primed to make some noise.

If the Green Wave can put up a 17-12 record for the remainder of the season, it will finish with a .500 record. With the momentum it has now, however, a .500 record on the season would be a disappointment.

With 27 games remaining in the regular season, only two of those will be against teams ranked in the Associated Press’ Top 25 – a pair of rematches, one against Southern Miss (24-6 Conference USA) on April 19 and the other against LSU on April 25.

Tulane has already proven that it can beat LSU, and in the initial meeting with Southern Miss, it lost a very close game 2-1.

Immediately following its win against LSU, the Wave won two of three against South Florida, a team that was 23-3 going into the weekend series.

“That’s a good South Florida team. I told the players, even though we’re disappointed today, you did win a series against a team that came in here 23-2,” Jewett said. “We made some mistakes, and they took advantage of it.”

Using the momentum it has right now, the Green Wave baseball team can and will minimize its mistakes, and when the season ends, it will have proven that Tulane baseball is still the premier sport at the university.