The Tulane University baseball team looked like a squad hitting its stride last weekend. Then came Tuesday night in Beaumont, Texas where things went off track.
The Green Wave traveled to Wichita, Kansas, for a three-game American Conference series against Wichita State University, carrying a three-game conference losing streak.
Tulane snapped it April 2 with a 4-2 win at Eck Stadium, powered by a dominant performance from Jake Toporek, who tossed 5.1 innings of three-hit shutout ball. Sam Larson recorded the final out with the tying run on base to seal it.
Game two was harder to watch. Wichita State’s Owen Washburn crushed a go-ahead three-run home run in the sixth inning, erasing a 4-4 tie and handing Tulane a 7-4 loss. Washburn had also homered earlier in the game. The Shockers’ bullpen held from there, and the series was suddenly even heading into a winner-take-all rubber match.
The Green Wave got the last laugh. J.D. Rodriguez was dominant, going 6.1 innings and allowing just one run — a career-high outing and only the third time a Tulane starter had thrown more than six innings all season — as Tulane rolled to an 8-1 series-clinching victory.
Tulane exploded for three two-out runs in the second inning and added two more in the third to build a 6-0 lead the Shockers never threatened. Jason Wachs went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a home run, extending his on-base streak to 59 consecutive games. James Agabedis also went deep, his third home run of the season.
The momentum did not survive the trip to Texas. Lamar University handed Tulane a 9-5 loss at Vincent-Beck Stadium in a back-and-forth non-conference game that got away in the late innings. The Cardinals entered the game on a four-game losing streak, but the Tulane pitching staff could not take advantage.
The Green Wave led 5-4 heading into the sixth before the Cardinals scored twice — on an RBI single from A.J. Taylor and a wild pitch — then tacked on two more in the seventh and added a final run in the eighth.
It was the third consecutive inning in which the Cardinals scored on a wild pitch. The loss snapped Tulane’s four-game winning streak. LuisPablo Navarro started and allowed three runs in 2.1 innings, and the five pitchers who came after could not stop the bleeding.
Wachs extended his on-base streak to 60 consecutive games in the loss, a career high. The sophomore outfielder, a preseason All-Conference selection, has now reached base in each of Tulane’s first 34 games this season.
The Green Wave currently sits at 17-17 overall and 4-5 in the American Conference. East Carolina University comes to Greer Field at Turchin Stadium on April 10 for the next conference series.