Tulane baseball dropped two of three games last weekend to conference rival No. 9 Rice University. The Owls managed to score early against the Green Wave in game one, and the Wave lost 5-4, unable to muster a comeback in the final innings. Tulane made a quick turnaround to take the second game 7-2 before dropping the last game 5-0. The series puts Tulane at a respectable 21-10 (3-3).

Early struggles in the first game proved too much for the Wave to overcome. Rice struck first to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by senior catcher Craig Manuel off Tulane pitcher Randy LeBlanc. The Wave fought back, though, to score a run of its own with a bases-loaded walk by Sean Potkay in the bottom of the inning. Rice continued to get to LeBlanc, scoring three runs in the third inning and another in the fourth.

The Wave nearly managed to take the game back in the bottom of the fourth. Tulane scored three runs, all with two outs on the count, to climb within one. The Owls bullpen shut down the Wave from there, allowing just three hits in the final five innings and claiming the 5-4 win.

The following day, the Wave struck early, scoring three runs in the first two innings, which included a home run by senior Nick Schneeberger, off Rice starter Andrew Benak. The Wave and Owls traded runs in the following innings before Tulane put the game away with three runs off Rice pitcher John Simms. The Wave took advantage of pitching to take the win, led by starter David Napoli, who pitched five-and-two-thirds innings and allowed only two runs, one of which was unearned. Senior D.J Ponder relieved Napoli, pitching the final three and one-thirds innings. He allowed only four hits with no runs. The win improved Napoli to 5-1 on the season.

In the series finale, the Wave bats went quiet. Rice starter Austin Kubitza pitched six innings and did not allow a hit before being pulled. Senior lefty Taylor Wall finished where Kubitza left off and allowed only one hit in the final three innings. On defense, errors plagued the Wave, who committed two on the day, leading to three unearned Rice runs. Sophomore infielder Shane Hoelscher added a solo home run for the Owls.

While the Wave only managed to win one of its three games during the weekend, the squad looked promising. Tulane pitched well throughout most of the series and came up with timely hits during stretches. This series against the ninth-ranked team in the nation gave the Wave confidence to go forward and beat Alcorn State 14-1 Wednesday. The Green Wave will hit the road for another Conference-USA series against Alabama at Birmingham starting 6:30 p.m. Friday. Tulane will play again at 2 p.m. Saturday and finish the series at 1 p.m. Sunday.