Despite Tulane’s best efforts early in the game, LSU shut out the Green Wave 5-0 Tuesday.

As the crowd of 5,023 fans – the third-largest crowd in Turchin Stadium history – watched, the Green Wave took a tough loss to drop to 10-3 on the season.

The Wave fielded well, and the squad started the game on a high note when infielder Garrett Cannizaro was hit by a pitch in the first inning to take first base, advancing to third off a single by Jeremy Schaffer. It would be the closest the Wave got to scoring a run against the Tigers.

Though Tulane pitcher Alex Byo struck out a batter and did not walk a single hitter, ironically named LSU freshman pitcher Aaron Nola proved to be too much for the Wave to handle. He threw eight strikeouts and allowed only three hits for eight and one-third innings, compared to the 10 hits Byo allowed.

“Once I got in the groove, the first-pitch strikes, I was on,” Nola said to The Times-Picayune afterward. “Getting that first-pitch strike really settles you down and relaxes you. When you get 0-2, when you get the two strikes and when you are ahead in the count, it really boosts your confidence a lot.”

This game marked the first time all season the Wave was out-hit by its opponent, as well as the first time the squad has been shut out since a game against Houston in April 2011.

Byo, however, found the silver lining and plans to move forward with his head held high. The junior pitched seven and two-thirds innings, breaking his previous pitching record.

“I felt strong out there,” Byo told The Times-Picayune. “I felt honestly really good. It’s a loss, but I’m going to take a lot of positives from it. I made some quality pitches. I feel like they had some hits that were off the end of the bat; I jammed them.”

Likewise, Schaffer, with his single in the first inning, stretched his streak to 13 on-base games and said he credited the loss to Nola’s extraordinary performance rather than the Green Wave’s lack of skill.

“I think he was effective just because he pounded the strike zone and didn’t throw many balls right down the middle,” Schaffer said to The Times-Picayune. “He threw a fastball, curveball and changeup all for strikes. He was mixing up his pitches well and didn’t give us much to hit.”

Tulane head coach Rick Jones congratulated Nola on his play.

“You’ve got to tip your hat to Nola,” Jones told The Times-Picayune. “I don’t think that I’ve seen a better performance, certainly from a freshman, in our ball park. That’s a very, very impressive outing. You don’t go through our ballclub with the way we’ve been swinging the bat and three-hit us unless you have great stuff and great command, and he did.”

The Wave will travel to take on the Wichita State in a three-game series at 4 p.m. Friday. The squad will play again at 2 p.m. the following day and finish at 1 p.m. on Sunday.