The Green Wave baseball squad posted a 10-3 win against in-state opponent Northwestern State Tuesday afternoon to end a three-game losing streak from last weekend’s series against Central Florida. Junior right-hander Alex Byo pitched six innings to secure the win, which improves Tulane’s record to 27-14 overall.

Junior shortstop Brennan Middleton led the Green Wave offensively, collecting three hits and scoring two runs. Junior centerfielder Blake Crohan reached base for the ninth game in a row after getting two hits, and four additional Green Wave batters had multi-hit outings. The efforts of sophomores Andrew Garner and Alex Facundus lowered the bullpen’s earned run average to 2.24 on the season.

Tulane scored four runs each in the third and seventh innings and was never earnestly threatened by the Demons, who trailed 4-3 midway through the fifth inning before a second Green Wave offensive burst.

Senior right fielder Nick Schneeberger (.382) and junior first baseman Sean Potkay (.374) remain the Wave’s top two hitters for the season, and Byo improved his win-loss record as a starter to 6-3 with a 3.59 earned run average.

“It was a great team win,” Byo said. “We needed that win, especially off the tough weekend we had. The team needed it. I’m pretty disappointed in my performance today; it was sub-par on a lot of levels. It was pretty frustrating, but you got to win – that’s all that matters.”

Middleton said that the team needed the afternoon win against the Demons to bounce back from a frustrating series sweep against Central Florida.

“I think our confidence is up,” Middleton said. “We played some good ballgames this weekend – it wasn’t like we got blown out. We’re just trying to take it one pitch at a time and not worry about the next game.”

Middleton also discussed his strategy from Tuesday and how he has worked to improve on his .371 batting average, third-best on the team.

“I’m trying to do the little things,” Middleton said after his three-hit performance. “I’m just trying to be aggressive and stay aggressive. I know I struggle when I get late in counts, and I’m not being aggressive on the fastball.”

Tulane travels to East Carolina this weekend for a road conference series, with games 6:30 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 10:30 a.m. Sunday.