Tulane University
Southern (NCAA Regional)
Baseball Defeats Southern 10-2 To Advance In NCAA Regional
Jun 1, 2002 | Baseball
June 1, 2002
BATON ROUGE, La. - Senior southpaw Beau Richardson tossed a complete-game and sophomore second baseman Turner Brumby went 3-for-3 with two doubles and three runs as the Tulane University baseball team defeated fourth-seeded Southern 10-2 Saturday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.
Tulane's five through nine hitters combined for eight hits, eight RBI and seven runs, including three RBI by freshman shortstop Tommy Manzella. Richardson, meanwhile, scattered seven hits and struck out four while allowing just one earned run in the victory.
With the win, the Green Wave improves to 36-26 on the year and advances in the Regional where they will take on the loser of the LSU/UL-Lafayette contest tonight at 7:30. The Tigers and Ragin' Cajuns play at 3:00 p.m. Southern concludes its season 45-10.
"Beau gave us a great postseason effort," head coach Rick Jones said. "(Southern is) an outstanding ballclub. To limit them to seven hits is great. The bottom line is Beau had a great day. His performance gave us momentum and that something we can build on. To win in this situation, you have to have everyone believing you can do it."
Richardson gave up a single to lead off the first, but after picking off the runner at first, was in control for most of the rest of the contest. The Jaguars loaded the bases with one out in the third, but the crafty lefty got Antoin Gray to pop up to short and forced Rickie Weeks to fly out to center to get out of the inning unscathed.
Southern scored an unearned run in the sixth, when an errant throw to first rolled far enough down the line to plate Weeks from first, and another in the eighth when Weeks hit a line-drive homer to left center, but Richardson was able to bounce back each time to close out the contest and allow the Green Wave to rest their bullpen for tonight's contest.
"I figured I had to keep my pitch count down and stay in the game as long as I could," Richardson said. "The difference today was my changeup. It was a lot better today than it has been. That kept their hitters from sitting on a certain pitch."
While Richardson kept the Jaguar hitters off balance and Southern squandered a prime scoring chance in the third, the Green Wave was able to take advantage of its bases-loaded opportunity in the second when Manzella hit a two-run, two-out single to left to score Brumby and sophomore designated hitter Michael Aubrey to give Tulane the lead for good.
Tulane padded its lead with a big fifth inning when the Green Wave had three singles and took advantage of a pair of Southern walks and an error to score five runs and increase their lead to 7-0.
Southern spoiled Richardson's shutout bid in the sixth when Weeks scored on the error, but the Green Wave got the run back in the top of the seventh when Brumby doubled and scored on an RBI single by sophomore catcher Brian Bormaster one at-bat later.
Then, after Weeks' homer in the bottom of the frame, Tulane closed out the scoring with a pair of runs in the ninth as sophomore third baseman Anthony Giarratano scored all the way from first on a Southern throwing error and Brumby ripped an RBI double to the wall in left.
With the complete-game effort, Richardson earned his third consecutive victory to improve to 7-5 on the year. Southern starter Eric Thomas was saddled with the loss after giving up six runs on six hits while walking four and striking out four.
