Baseball To Open C-USA Play Friday At TCU
Mar 13, 2003 | Baseball
March 13, 2003
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Tulane University baseball team will look to end an inauspicious streak on Friday, March 14 when the Green Wave opens Conference USA play at TCU at 6:30 at the Horned Frogs' new Lupton Stadium.
Despite being one of the top teams since the league was formed in 1996 - Tulane has won three regular-season conference crowns and four tournament titles - the Green Wave has never won a conference-opening series and are just 7-13-1 in those games. The closest Tulane has come to taking a league weekend opener was in 2000 when Tulane split Friday and Saturday games against Louisville before having the Sunday contest called at 3-3 in order to allow the Cardinals to catch their flight back to Kentucky.
The Green Wave (14-4) has momentum on its side, however, and will carry the momentum of a five-game winning streak, including Tuesday night's 5-4 11-inning thriller against arch-rival LSU at Zephyr Field.
For the season, the Green Wave are hitting .334 as a team and are led by All-America candidate Michael Aubrey with a .485 batting average to go along with four home runs and 28 RBI. Sophomore second baseman Tommy Manzella is next with a .429 average with two home runs and 16 RBI, followed by freshman outfielder Brian Bogusevic with a .386 mark.
As a team, the Tulane pitching staff has tallied a 3.08 ERA after giving up 54 earned runs in 158.0 innings so far in 2003. Opponents are hitting .271 off the Green Wave hurlers with 167 hits in 616 at-bats. Tulane has also done a good job of keeping the ball over the plate with 156 strikeouts and just 46 walks.
Junior Cory Hahn leads the team with a 4-1 record and a 1.44 ERA, followed by freshman Matt Goebel with a 2.10 mark. Rookie Billy Mohl, who is fifth on the squad with a 3.65 ERA, paces the Green Wave with 28 strikeouts.
TCU, meanwhile, comes into the weekend 11-9 on the year and looking to shake the sting of a 6-3 loss Tuesday night at Baylor.
As a team, the Horned Frogs are hitting .300 with a .468 slugging percentage courtesy of 37 doubles, five triples and 20 home runs. Jake Duncan paces the TCU squad with a .400 batting average, followed by Mike Settle with a .377 mark. Duncan leads the Horned Frogs with five home runs, and Settle heads the squad with 22 RBI.
On the mound, TCU has a 5.36 team ERA after allowing 97 earned runs in 163.0 innings. Horned Frog hurlers are holding opponents to a .287 batting average and have tallied 134 strikeouts to just 69 walks. Clayton Jerome leads the TCU staff with a 3.81 ERA and Chris Osentowski paces the squad with 24 strikeouts.
This weekend's games against the Horned Frogs mark the sixth, seventh and eighth times Tulane and TCU have met on the diamond with the Green Wave holding a 3-2 advantage in the all-time series. Tulane dropped a pair of games to TCU in their first meetings, a two-game season opening set on Feb. 9, 1989, but the Green Wave swept a three-game series from the Horned Fogs last year at Turchin Stadium.
Following their weekend at TCU the Green Wave returns to action on Wednesday, March 19 when they travel to Hammond, La., to take on Southeastern Louisiana at 6:30 p.m.
