Baseball Opens Series with 7-1 Win at Houston

Friday, April 21

Houston, Texas

6:30 p.m.

Tulane University

20-19, 8-2

Houston

25-12, 6-4

Tulane

Houston

Photo by: Parker Waters

Baseball Opens Series with 7-1 Win at Houston

Apr 21, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score

Box Score

HOUSTON – Senior Corey Merrill pitched eight shutout innings and senior second baseman Jake Willsey homered twice to lead Tulane baseball to a 7-1 win over No. 12 Houston in its American Athletic Conference series opener Friday evening at Schroeder Park.

The Green Wave (20-19, 8-2 American) led 2-0 after five innings on RBI singles by junior center fielder Grant Brown and senior first baseman Hunter Williams, then added five runs in the final three frames with two solo home runs by Willsey and a three-run homer by senior designated hitter Jarret DeHart. The Cougars fell to 25-12 overall and 6-4 in conference play.

Merrill (6-2) allowed just three hits and three walks, and only once allowed a runner reach to third base. The defense helped the cause, turning two inning-ending double plays, along with one-handed fielding plays by senior third baseman Hunter Hope and long-running catches in the outfield. Senior left fielder Lex Kaplan ran down two fly balls in left center and leapt to grab a fly ball at the top of the wall in left in the second inning. Freshman Keagan Gillies pitched the ninth to close it out.

"Corey has had two good outings in a row, and you can just see he's found a new gear," Tulane head coach Travis Jewett said. "It started with him tonight. He kept a really good team off the board early and let us settle in. It was just a complete game tonight. I thought we did a good job offensively. We played some good defense and made some nice plays in the outfield. (Lex) Kaplan was all over the place. The entire infield played good defense – Hope in particular made some nice plays – and we made a couple of nice double plays. It was a just a heck of a performance by the guys. I'm happy for them."

Sophomore right fielder Grant Witherspoon hit the first pitch of the game through the left side of the infield, and scored on Brown's two-out single up the middle. Hope and Kaplan led off the next two innings with doubles, as the leadoff batter reached in six innings. Tulane maintained the 1-0 lead until the fifth when Williams singled home Witherspoon to extend the lead to 2-0.

Willsey made it 3-0 with a leadoff home run in the seventh, then homered again to start the ninth, both to deep left center field. He raised his total to seven homers on the season, going 3-for-4 in the ballgame.

Witherspoon and Kaplan walked following the homer in the ninth, and DeHart hit a mammoth three-run homer off the top of the scoreboard structure in right center field, making the score 7-0. It was his eighth of the season, matching Hope for the team lead.

Houston scored its only run of the game in the bottom of the ninth inning on a two-out solo home run by Corey Julks. UH starter Mitch Ullom (5-3) allowed two runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings, and took the loss.

The second game of the series is at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The game can be heard on 88.3 FM WRBH and the Tune In Radio app, and live stats will be available on www.TulaneGreenWave.com.

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Tulane 7, Houston 1 (Apr 21, 2017 at Houston, Texas)
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Tulane.............. 100 010 104 - 7 12 1 (20-19, 8-2 AAC)
Houston............. 000 000 001 - 1 4 0 (25-12, 6-4 AAC)
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Pitchers: Tulane - MERRILL, Corey; GILLIES, Keagan(9) and GOZZO, Paul. Houston - ULLOM, Mitch;
VILLARREAL, Fred(6); BOND, Nolan(9) and WONG, Connor.
Win-MERRILL, Corey(6-2) Loss-ULLOM, Mitch(5-3) T-2:51 A-1518
HR TLN - DeHART, Jarret; WILLSEY, Jake 2.
HR HOU - JULKS, Corey.
VILLARREAL faced 3 batters in the 9th.