Baseball Looks To Continue C-USA Climb Against Cincinnati
May 1, 2003 | Baseball
May 1, 2003
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Tulane University baseball team will look to continue to climb the Conference USA ladder and keep a 20-game home winning streak in tact this weekend when the University of Cincinnati Bearcats come in town for a three-game series beginning Friday, May 2 at 6:30 p.m. in Turchin Stadium.
But while Tulane (33-13) put the finishing touches to a 13-4 April last Tuesday night with a 9-5 victory over arch-rival LSU in the rubber match of a three-game regular-season series, the Green Wave still find themselves three games out of first place in the Conference USA - trailing Southern Miss by three games and two game behind second-place TCU.
The Green Wave will be taking on a team fighting for its postseason life in Cincinnati, which enters the weekend 13-31 overall and 11th in the C-USA standings with a 5-16 mark. Tulane will also be playing against a familiar opponent as Bearcat head coach Brian Cleary was a member of the Tulane staff from 1994-96 where he helped lay the foundation for the program that has evolved in The Big Easy.
For the season, the Green Wave are hitting .317 as a team and are led by All-America candidate Michael Aubrey with a .436 batting average to go along with 10 home runs and 59 RBI. Senior centerfielder Jonny Kaplan is next with a .368 average and a league-leading 37 stolen bases, and junior shortstop Tony Giarratano is close behind with a .354 mark and 21 steals.
As a team, the Tulane pitching staff has tallied a 3.84 ERA in 398.2 innings in 2003. Opponents are hitting .277 off the Green Wave hurlers with 424 hits in 1,529 at-bats. Tulane has also done a good job of keeping the ball over the plate with 338 strikeouts and just 122 walks.
Freshman J.R. Crowel leads the team with a 7-0 record and 53 strikeouts, and is second on the squad with a 2.75 ERA. Junior Cory Hahn is tied with Crowel for the team wins lead (7-1) and paces the squad with a 2.40 ERA. Junior reliever Joey Charron (3-5) is one of two players on the roster with a save, and leads the team with eight.
Cincinnati, meanwhile, is hitting .251 with a .373 slugging percentage courtesy of 58 doubles, one triple and 40 home runs. Mark Muscenti leads the team with a .288 batting average, followed by Brad Dorrmann with a .278 mark and Justin Niefer with a .273 clip. Dorrmann leads the team in home runs (5) and RBI (24), and Niefer paces the squad in doubles (11).
On the mound, Cincinnati has a 5.84 team ERA after giving up 242 earned runs in 373.0 innings. The Bearcats are allowing opponents to hit .302 and have 229 strikeouts to 125 walks. B.J. Borsa leads the team with a 4.36 ERA in 84.2 innings of work, and Nate Bouldin paces the squad with five win.
This weekend series marks the 36th, 37th and 38th times Tulane and Cincinnati have met on the diamond, and the Green Wave hold a 29-6 advantage in the all-time series. Under head coach Rick Jones, Tulane is 22-2 against Cincinnati, but both losses came last season when the Bearcats took the series from the Green Wave two games to one at Johnny Bench Field.
Following the series with the Bearcats, the Green Wave will enjoy a rare week off before returning to action on Friday, May 9 when they travel to Kentucky to open a three-game series with league foe Louisville.
