Tulane University
at LSU
Baseball Hits Roadblock At LSU, Falls To Tigers 8-0
Apr 15, 2003 | Baseball
April 15, 2003
BATON ROUGE, La. - LSU starter Jake Tompkins struck out seven, and the senior right-hander combined with two other Tiger hurlers to keep the Green Wave off the scoreboard for the first time in 2003 as the Tulane University baseball team dropped an 8-0 contest Tuesday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.
Tompkins pitched five innings, giving up one hit and walking just one, to earn his first victory of the year. Tulane starter Matt Goebel, was not as fortunate as the Tigers scored three runs in the first, another in the second and four in the third to account for the final score.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak by the Green Wave as Tulane falls to 26-12 on the year. The shutout was the first against the Green Wave since March 22 when Tulane dropped an 8-0 contest at Houston. It also marked the first time Tulane was shutout by the Tigers since Feb. 22, 1996 when the Green Wave lost 10-0 at The Box. Tuesday's loss also ties the season series at one game apiece - Tulane won game on 5-4 in an 11-inning thriller on March 11 at Zephyr Field - and the two teams will play the rubber match on April 29 in the Louisiana Superdome.
Tompkins, Jason Determan and Billy Sadler limited the Green Wave offense to two hits. Tompkins retired the first 11 batters he faced before plunking junior first baseman Michael Aubrey to break up the bid for the perfect game in the fourth inning.
One inning later, rookie outfielder Nathan Southard broke up the no-hit bid with a leadoff single. Southard finished the day 1-for-2, but reached base three times with a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Tulane's other hit came via junior shortstop Tony Giarratano who singled with one out in the eighth.
The game, however, belonged to the Tigers. LSU jumped on Goebel early as Bruce Sprowl drew a leadoff walk and J.C. Hold homered one at-bat later to stake the Tigers to an early 2-0 lead. Ivan Nacarrata singled two hitters later, advanced to third on a single by Blake Gil, and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Clay Harris to close out the three-run frame.
Jon Zerengue doubled to open the second, advanced a base on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI-groundout by Matt Liuzza, but the Tigers broke the game open one inning later when LSU tallied five hits, including an RBI-single by Gil, a run-scoring double by Ryan Patterson and a two-RBI single by Zeringue to account for the final score.
Gil's base knock in the third chased Goebel from the game, and while it took a while for freshman reliever Brandon Gomes to settle down, the rookie retired nine in a row, and did not give up a hit after the third inning. Tulane also got solid relief appearances by freshman Tyler Kimmons and junior Joey Charron who pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
Tulane returns to action on Friday, April 18 when they take on C-USA foe UAB in a three-game series at 6:30 p.m. at Turchin Stadium. For ticket information, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE.
