Tulane Battles Early Weekend Series at Wichita Starting Tonight

The Tulane baseball team, along with the rest of the American Conference, gets a head start on their weekend series as the Green Wave are in Wichita to take on the Shockers tonight, Friday, and Sunday. Tonight and Friday's game at Eck Stadium on the Wichita State campus, begins at 6:05 p.m. with Saturday's game set for a 1:05 first pitch. All games can be heard on 88.3 WRBH with the voice of the Green Wave, Corey Gloor. The games will also be broadcast on ESPN+.

Last Time Out

The Wave is fresh off one of, if not their most complete game of the year, when, on Tuesday, Tulane downed Nicholls, 6-2. Green Wave pitching held the Colonels to three hits, giving up one earned run out of the two scored. LuisPablo Navarro had his first start on the mound since transferring from JUCO to Tulane in the Fall. The sophomore was perfect for three innings, striking out five to earn his first victory as a Greenie.

Though Tulane hitters could only manage seven, the Green Wave earned nine walks. Add to that some aggressive base running, and it was a recipe for a solid game on the base paths. The Wave consistently pushed the envelope, bunting runners up, stealing bases (two of them in the game), and using the hit-and-run often enough to keep Nicholls off kilter.

Scouting Wichita State

The Shockers are riding the top of the American Conference along with Texas-San Antonio and Alabama-Birmingham, a change for this team from the past few seasons.

"It's so fickle, the game of baseball," Tulane coach Jay Uhlman explained. "They've been at the bottom half (of the league) the last two or three years. We played them for the American Conference championship (an 11-10 Green Wave victory in 2024).

"They've very physical with the bat," Uhlman continued, "so they're very offensive. They've got a lot of new players." Thirty of the 38-players on the Shockers' roster are new to Wichita. That's even more than Tulane, who had a roster turnover of its own, getting 23 new faces this season.

As of this writing, Uhlman had not decided on his starting pitchers for the Wichita State series. Last week, Friday starter Trey Cehajic had another difficult outing, giving up 10-hits and 8-runs in 4-and-two-thirds innings. Adding to the frustration, Saturday starter Jack Frankel missed the trip to Birmingham entirely because of discomfort and tightness, forcing Sunday starter J.D. Rodriguez along with the bullpen to move up a day. Frankel's availability is up in the air for the series against the Shockers.

Ripples

- Four of the last seven hits for James Agabedis have been home runs.
- Tulane improved to 10-5 this year when scoring first.
- The Green Wave improved the team's record to 70-28 all-time against Nicholls. The program is now 4-2 against Louisiana opponents this season.
- Kaikea Harrison's three-hit game was his third of the season. He also leads the club with 12 multi-hit performances.
- Nate Johnson, who batted second in the lineup today, has now hit in eight of the nine positions in the lineup (2nd – 9th).
- The Tulane pitching staff, who struck out 12 in the game, reached double figures in strikeouts for the 13th time this season.

Portions Courtesy Tulane Athletics