Baseball Looks To Put It All Together Against UNO
Mar 18, 2002 | Baseball
March 18, 2002
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Tulane University baseball team will look to play another complete game on Tuesday night when the Green Wave travels to Zephyr Field to take on cross-town rival UNO in the first game of the Popeye's Cup Challenge.
The Green Wave are coming off a disappointing 1-2 Conference USA opening weekend vs. Charlotte that saw Tulane squander solid pitching on Friday by not getting timely hits before wasting a solid hitting performance on Saturday when the bullpen could not hold a 10-6 lead after six innings. Tulane rebounded on Sunday, however, pounding out 13 hits to go with solid play on the mound and in the field in a 16-6 win to improve to 13-8 on the year.
When Tulane and UNO square off Tuesday night at "The Shrine on Airline," the Green Wave will put their 16-game winning streak against Louisiana schools and look to improve to 55-45 all-time in the series as the Green Wave and Privateers will be facing each other for the 100th time on the diamond.
The game will also feature a pitching matchup of a pair of familiar names to New Orleans area baseball fans as Tulane will send freshman Ray Liotta to the hill where he will face off against UNO's Brandon Kling. Liotta, a native of Metairie and 2001 graduate of Archbishop Rummel High, is 1-2 on the year with a 5.64 ERA in six appearances.
Kling, meanwhile, prepped at Catholic High in Baton Rouge, but graduated from Delgado Community College last season where he helped the Dolphins finish 22-17 last season. Kling will be making his first Division I start and bring a 0-1 record and 3.21 ERA into the contest.
Senior infield James Jurries leads Tulane with a .447 batting average while tallying a team-best .800 slugging percentage, 24 RBI, six homers and three triples. Freshman third baseman Brooks Shankle is second on the club with a .358 batting average and redshirt-freshman outfielder Gerald Clark is close behind with a .345 mark.
As a team, Tulane is hitting .315 with a .471 slugging percentage on 42 doubles, seven triples and 21 home runs. From the mound, the Green Wave has a team 4.84 ERA with nearly a 2-to-1 strikeout-per-walk ratio with 162 fans and 84 bases on balls.
UNO, meanwhile, comes into the contest 11-7 on the year and fresh off a 3-0 sweep of Howard last weekend. As a team, the Privateers are hitting .282 with 34 doubles, nine triples and 15 home runs, and are led by J. D. Husther who hits at a .394 clip with a team-best eight doubles and 23 RBI. Gabe Trevizo is the UNO home run leader with four while hitting .313.
As a staff, UNO hurlers have a 3.31 ERA with 151 strikeouts and 65 walks in 155.0 innings of work.
After the UNO contest, which is officially a Privateers' home game, the Green Wave will continue its road swing on Friday, March 22 when Tulane travels to the Lone Star State to take on Conference USA foe Houston at 7 p.m. at Cougar Field. Friday's contest will be the first of a three-game series against the Cougars as the two teams square off on Saturday at 7 p.m. before closing out the weekend with a 1 p.m. showdown on Sunday.
