Tulane University
Memphis
Early Homers, Bourgeois' Arm Pace Baseball Past Memphis, 7-0
Apr 5, 2002 | Baseball
April 5, 2002
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Green Wave hit solo homers in the first and second inning, and junior southpaw Nick Bourgeois struck out a career-high 15 batters as the Tulane University baseball team defeated Memphis 7-0 Friday night in Conference USA action at Nat Buring Stadium.
Bourgeois (5-1), who set a personal-best in strikeouts with 10 earlier this season, only allowed one Tiger to reach second an another to reach third, but never allowed two baserunners in the same inning in the dominating performance. With the win, the Green Wave improve to 17-15 on the year and 4-6 in C-USA play. Memphis, meanwhile, drops to 10-15 overall and 5-5 in league action.
The Green Wave wasted little time getting on the board as junior left fielder Aaron Feldman launced an opposite-field home run in the second at-bat of the contest. Then, in the second, freshman third baseman Brooks Shankle launced a shot to straight-away centerfield to make it 2-0, but the game belong to Bouregois.
After giving up a single with one out in the first, Bourgeois retired 12 consecutive batters as the Tulane lead swelled to 6-0. From there, every out he recorded through the seventh inning came via strikeout, and Bourgeois' lone walk came with two out in the eighth.
Sophomore right-hander Will Walter came on in relief of Bourgeois in the ninth, retiring the side in order to give Tulane its first shutout win since a 2-0 victory over Georgia State on March 3, 2001.
With a 2-0 lead and Bourgeois in control, the Green Wave offense provided some breathing room in the fifth when Shankle hit a leadoff double and freshman shortstop Tommy Manzella brought him around with a single one batter later. Junior centerfielder Jon Kaplan singles and senior second baseman James Jurries drew an intentional walk to load the bases before sophomore first baseman Michael Aubrey brought Manzella home with an RBI groundout and sophomore designated hitter Byran Stelmack made it 5-0 with an RBI single.
Tulane closed out the scoring one inning later when Manzella hit a one-out single, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Kaplan.
Memphis used four pitchers in the game, but to no avail as Bourgeois was not to be denied. Starter Ryan O'Malley was saddled with the loss after giving up six runs (five earned) on six hits while striking out five and walking four is five innings.
The Green Wave returns to action on Saturday, April 6 when Tulane takes on the Tigers at 2 p.m. at Nat Buring Stadium. Tulane and Memphis close out their three-game conference slate on Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
