Tulane baseball seems to bring new surprises with each weekend. The Green Wave left fans speechless with its most recent underdog series win against the Purdue Boilermakers.

Coming back strong from its loss against Southeastern Louisiana, the team came into the weekend with a thirst for redemption. The first game of the three-game series was predominantly composed of strong defenses battling until one would give up a run. Purdue was the first and only team to falter, with the Green Wave scoring a single game-winning run off sophomore Jonathon Artigues’ RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning. Junior pitcher Kaleb Roper was responsible for the majority of Tulane’s shutout. Roper was recently awarded the American Athletic Conference’s Pitcher of the Week award for his winning performance against the Boilermakers.

Saturday proved to be more of a challenge for the Green Wave. Both teams brought their offensive prowess back in the first inning of the game, with each scoring two runs. The Boilermakers continued this hot streak into the second inning, but the Green Wave was not able to match this level of intensity. Reaching the sixth inning with a score of 5-4, both teams lit up the score board yet again, with Purdue bringing in five runs and the Green Wave adding four. Freshman pitcher Connor Pellerin kept the Wave in the game with three strikeouts in three innings, but sadly this was not enough to pull another victory. Tulane dropped this second game of the series by a score of 12-8.

The third and final leg of this “rubber match” induced the Green Wave to bring its A-game. With the series coming down to the final game, tensions were high for both teams. The Green Wave, however, put together a winning combination of offense and defense, shutting out Purdue for five innings while scoring four runs of its own. Sophomore pitcher Keagan Gillies struck out 11 players within seven innings, while only allowing one run. Just as Purdue finally reached the scoreboard, junior center fielder Grant Witherspoon iced the game with two crucial home runs. These last minute heroics brought the final score to 6-2 and gave the Green Wave a surprising series win.

For its next weekend series, Tulane will travel to Long Beach, California, to take on Long Beach State, yet another difficult task for the Green Wave. The series will open this Friday at 8 p.m.