*Courtesy Tulane Sports Information
NEW ORLEANS — Tulane’s baseball team took the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, while Wichita State bounced back in the nightcap in a series that saw its schedule reworked with inclement weather in the forecast for Saturday.
The Green Wave is now 10-25 and 4-4 in the American Athletic Conference, while the Shockers are 19-15 and also 4-4 in the league.
Game 1: Tulane 9, Wichita State 7
Tulane starter Dylan Carmouche (3-5) picked up his third straight victory, going seven innings and allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits with nine strikeouts against two walks. Chandler Welch picked up his first save of the season (second career) as he got the final two outs, the last coming on a swinging strikeout of WSU pinch-hitter Alex Birge.
Shockers starter Payton Tolle (6-1) suffered his first setback of the season, giving up seven runs on nine hits with three strikeouts and one walk.
Tulane catcher Brennan Lambert, who celebrated a birthday Friday, responded by going 3-for-3 with three RBI and two walks. Right fielder Brady Hebert, center fielder Teo Banks and first baseman Brady Marget all had two hits apiece.
WSU catcher Mauricio Millan drove in two runs, while right fielder Chuck Ingram went 3-for-5. Shortstop Brock Rodden and second baseman Jack Little each posted a pair of base knocks and Ingram and third baseman Sawyre Thornhill scored twice. Little and Thornhill had solo homers in the fourth and sixth innings, respectively.
The Shockers got to Carmouche with single runs in the first and second innings, the former being unearned as it was aided by a Green Wave error.
Tulane’s big inning came in the bottom of the second as it plated five runs on six hits. Third baseman Simon Baumgart belted the inning’s first pitch over the wall in left center and Lambert, Hebert and Banks all followed with run-scoring singles. Second baseman Michael Lombardi scored the final run on Marget’s RBI groundout to first.
After Lambert smashed a solo homer down the right field line in the third, the teams traded runs in the fourth with Tulane’s tally coming via Marget’s RBI single to left. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin native added another on his sixth inning double to center and Hebert tacked on the Green Wave’s final run when he walked with the bases loaded, scoring Lambert.
The Shockers added one run in the eighth and two in the ninth, but Welch’s arrival signaled the end of the rally, giving the Green Wave the game one victory.
Game 2: Wichita State 10, Tulane 9
In the evening game, WSU starter Clark Candiotti (5-2) picked up the win, allowing seven runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts and two walks in five and one-third innings. Nate Snead finished the contest, hurling three and two-thirds innings, giving up two runs on three hits with four strikeouts and one walk to get his second save of the season.
Tulane starter Ricky Castro (2-5) had a tough day, surrendering eight runs on six hits with four strikeouts and five walks in three and two-thirds innings to take the loss.
The top of the WSU order did all of the damage as Ingram and Garrett Pennington each drove in four runs, sandwiched in the order around two from Rodden. The trio also belted four home runs. Ingram went 3-for-3 and scored three times and Jaden Gustafson came across the plate twice.
Banks knocked in three for Tulane, while Jackson Linn and James Agabedis contributed two RBI. That duo, plus Marget and James LaPrairie all had two hits apiece with all but Agabedis scoring twice.
The game’s first eight runs were all scored via the home run before Agabedis laced a two-run single to left in the bottom of the third to give the home team a 7-3 lead.
However, the Shockers responded in a big way with five runs in the top of the fourth to take a lead it would not relinquish. The big blow came on Pennington’s grand slam to left, a shot that chased Castro from the contest.
After 15 runs were scored in the first three and a half innings, the bats fell silent until the eighth when the two teams traded two runs. The Green Wave’s runs came off the bat of Linn on a two-run thunderbolt that careened off the camera stand above the 400-foot sign in center field. That brought the home team within one at 10-9, but Tulane was unable to do further damage against Snead in the ninth.
Linn’s homer was his eighth of the season and tied Baumgardt for the team lead.
The program retired the jersey of legendary coach Rick Jones in a ceremony between Friday’s games.
The final game of the series will be played Sunday at 12:30 p.m.