Tulane University
Southern Miss
Baseball Completes Sweep of Southern Miss With 7-4 Win
May 18, 2002 | Baseball
May 18, 2002
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Junior centerfielder Jon Kaplan and freshman shortstop Tommy Manzella each hit solo home runs, and sophomore Kris Kline pitched 6.2 solid innings as the Tulane University baseball team completed the three-game sweep of Conference USA foe Southern Miss with a 7-4 victory Saturday afternoon at Turchin Stadium.
While Kaplan and Manzella were swinging for the fences, the Green Wave baserunning proved to be an even more lethal weapon as Tulane tallied seven steals on the afternoon, including three by senior first baseman James Jurries. With the win, Tulane improves to 33-23 on the year and 17-13 in Conference USA play. Southern Miss, meanwhile, falls to 35-20 overall and 18-11 in league action.
The win solidifies at least a sixth-place finish in the conference standings, but Tulane can move up a spot if East Carolina falls to Louisville later today in Greenville, N.C. If the game is not played due to inclement weather, ECU will claim the fifth seed by eight one-hundredths of a percentage point.
Kaplan got things going early for the Green Wave, pulling a 2-0 pitch in Tulane's first at-bat to put the home team ahead 1-0. A hit-by-pitch, stolen base, error and groundout later, the Green Wave padded their lead to 2-0 when junior leftfielder Aaron Feldman scored on an RBI groundout by sophomore designated hitter Michael Aubrey.
After a pair of scoreless innings, the Green Wave added a pair of runs in the fourth without the benefit of a base hit as Jurries scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore third baseman Anthony Giarratano and redshirt-freshman rightfielder Gerald Clark walked, advanced the basepaths on a wild pitch and an error and scored on a double steal to put Tulane ahead 4-0.
It was more of the same in the fifth when Kaplan hit a leadoff single, stole second and scored on another Southern Miss error off the bat of Jurries, and Jurries stole a pair of bases and scored on an Aubrey sacrifice fly.
Southern Miss made things interesting with two outs in the seventh as the Golden Eagles tallied five straight hits, including a two-run home run by Matt Shepherd and an RBI single off the bat of Jeff Cook to cut the lead to 6-3.
The Green Wave got one of the runs back in the home half of the inning when Manzella hit his first home run of the year straight down the line in left, and had a chance to add more, but Griffin cut a pair of Tulane would-be runners down at second base with great throws on steal attempts to get out of the inning with just one run on the board.
Southern Miss added another run in the eighth, and had the game-tying run at the plate with two out in the ninth, but reliever Joey Charron was able to pitch his way out of a jam to seal the victory and the series sweep.
Tulane returns to action next week when the Green Wave travel to Kinston, N.C. to participate in the 2002 Conference USA Championship at Grainger Stadium. The Green Wave will find out later today who its opponent will be as well as the time and day the game will be played.
