Tulane Green Wave Baseball Falls to ECU Pirates in AAC Championship Game

The Tulane Green Wave's AAC tournament run ended up blowout fashion on Sunday afternoon as they fell 8-2 to the East Carolina Pirates in the Championship game.

The Green Wave was searching for their third-straight conference championship and were on a bit of a Cinderella run. They were actually the "home team" on Sunday, but that advantage didn't end up factoring in.

East Carolina will get the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Tulane went with star junior Michael Lombardi on the mound after his breakout start earlier in the tournament.

Normally their closer, Lombardi gave seven innings of one-run ball with 11 strikeouts against the FAU Owls.

The Pirates got off to a much better start against him with two hits including a two-run shot in the first innings, but Lombardi quickly settled in.

The wind was howling in BayCare Ballpark, so it felt like giving up a home run was an inevitability.

Lombardi ended up going four innings and giving up four runs with six strikeouts. The bullpen didn't have much better success and the game got out of hand fairly quickly.

East Carolina went with freshman Sean Jenkins on the mound. He entered the game with a 5.52 ERA on the year with a 1.323 WHIP and 6.8 K/9.

Jenkins had shown flashes throughout the year but has been a bit inconsistent, which should be expected from a first-year pitcher. He was definitely on today as he went 5.1 innings with just one run given up.

This loss will likely mean the end of the road for the Green Wave as it would be very shocking to see them earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

They finish the year with a 33-25 record and going 13-14 in conference play. It was a step back in every way for year three of Jay Uhlman's time as head coach.

They should be well-equipped to come back strong next year if they don't end up getting hit by the transfer portal.

Lombardi will be a senior and has now built out his potential as either a starter, closer, or infield slugger.

Tanner Chun and Jackson Wachs were standout freshmen. Kaikea Harrison, Connor Rasmussen and James Agabegis are among the juniors that can come back.

Gavin Schulz, Luc Fladda, Trey Cehajic, Carter Benbrook and Theo Bryant are among the seniors that will need to be replaced.

All eyes will be on how Uhlman and Tulane will be able to bounce back next season.