Tulane Baseball Clobbered by FAU, 11-3

A pitching staff not able to keep batters off the bases and an offense that couldn't string together timely hitting, led to the Tulane baseball team getting smacked around by Florida Atlantic, 11-3 Friday night. The loss drops the Green Wave to 20-19 for the year, 6-7 in American Conference play. FAU improves to 18-19 overall, 5-8 in league games.

Trouble on the Mound Often

Starting Green Wave pitcher, Trey Cehajic, continued to put himself behind the eight-ball, running counts to 2- and 3-balls consistently. It came back to haunt him in the bottom of the third when the graduate righty walked the first two batters he faced, then gave up a rocket shot over the right centerfield wall to give FAU a 3-zip lead.

The Wave got a run back in the top of the 4th when right fielder Jason Wachs went the other way for a ground-rule double that hopped over the left centerfield fence. Then, designated hitter Matthias Haas drove him home with a single, making the score 3-1, Florida Atlantic.

A solo homer in the bottom of the 6th chased Cehajic to the dugout. The graduate righty went 5-innings, gave up five hits, four runs all earned, struck out five and walked four.

The usually reliable Tulane bullpen could not hold back the FAU flood of runs, giving up seven in the innings that followed. It was a tough night for Wave pitchers. To wit, FAU was even able to steal home with the bases loaded on Jacob Moore. Green Wave pitching walked ten Owls and hit three batters.

Wave Batters Befuddled

For most of the game, Tulane batters were kept off-guard with high-speed fast balls and moving off-speeds by Owl pitching. Though the Greenies were able to cobble together eight hits in the game, ten Wave batters went down via the strike out.

One of the brightest spots for the Green Wave at the plate was 3rd baseman James Agabedis III. The senior has been on a tear of late, getting hits in the last five of his last six games along with flashing the leather at the hot corner defensively. Agabedis went to the plate four times and ended up on base three, getting a pair of singles, earning a walk, and scoring a run.

Saturday afternoon, the Wave and Owls battle starting at 3:00 p.m. CDT from Boca Raton, Florida. Jake Toporek will be on the mound for Tulane.