Tulane baseball opens season with perfect start
February 22, 2022
Tulane baseball opened the 2022 season by sweeping the University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks. The Green Wave outclassed their opposition in almost every facet of play, especially offensively. With high expectations for the team this season, the Green Wave had the perfect start to their campaign.
Opening night was on the night of Feb. 18 at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium on Tulane’s Uptown campus. Tulane dominated in a 10-2 win in front of 1,409 excited fans.
All three of Tulane’s pitchers dominated, only giving up five hits on the evening. Starter Tyler Hoffman lasted four and one-third innings, striking out three and surrendering the two runs. Reliever Chandler Welch recorded five strikeouts in his three and two-thirds innings, while Turner Thompson pitched the ninth inning to close out the game.
Third baseman Brady Hebert had three hits on the night while he, Chase Engelhard and Luis Aviles all drove in two runs.
The next day, Tulane routed the River Hawks 11-0 in a highly impressive showing. Mississippi State transfer Dylan Carmouche dominated from the mound. The left hander struck out seven in his six innings of work and only allowed four hits.
The Green Wave had the bats rolling, with Brennan Lambert, Aviles and Engelhard all having multi-hit games. Lambert had Tulane’s first home run of the season, when his seventh inning shot went deep. UML did themselves no favors defensively, as the River Hawks committed three fielding errors and allowed several unearned runs.
Sunday’s matchup saw a late UML comeback bid, although late game heroics gave the Green Wave enough to win 6-5. Tulane fell behind early after giving up a solo home run but roared back to take a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the second. Trevor Minder began the inning with a home run of his own before River Hawk errors and good hitting from Bennett Lee and Aviles gave the Green Wave the lead.
A Jared Hart single extended Tulane’s lead to 5-1 in the third, but UML would fight back in the fourth and the fifth. The visitors scored one in the fourth, before two home runs in the fifth tied the game at 5.
Tulane would regain the lead in the eighth, when Engelhard beat out a slow ground ball to the shortstop, while Aviles scampered around to home to take the lead. Zach Devito would close out the game by striking out five in only two innings.
The Green Wave will be on the road for their next few matchups, including against the Nicholls State Colonels on Feb. 23 and a weekend series away at the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs from Feb. 25-27.
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