Tulane University
at Louisville
Baseball Drops Rubber Match At Louisville 7-5
May 11, 2003 | Baseball
May 11, 2003
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Junior first baseman Michael Aubrey went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and two RBI, and sophomore designated hitter Wes Swackhamer belted his seventh home run of the year, but it was not enough as the Tulane University baseball team dropped a 7-5 series deciding contest to Conference USA foe Louisville Sunday afternoon at Cardinal Stadium.
Louisville hit three home runs, took advantage of a pair of Tulane errors and got a surprisingly good start from freshman right-hander Jon Harbridge (1-1) to take the series two games to one. With the loss, the Green Wave drops its first C-USA series since April 4-6 when Tulane dropped two out of three against Charlotte in Kannapolis, N.C. Tulane falls to 37-15 on the year and 17-9 in league play while Louisville improves to 30-19 overall and 13-13 in C-USA action.
The Cardinals jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings, but Tulane came back with a three-run sixth and a two-run eighth. That was as close as they would get, however, as Louisville answered each Green Wave rally with a run in the home half of the inning and senior closer Carlos Fernandez maintained the Louisville lead to earn his ninth save of the season.
Harbridge, who made his first career start Sunday vs. the Green Wave, gave the Cardinals 5.0 solid innings, giving up just one earned run on three hits while walking three and striking out one. Steve Ayers pitched a scoreless sixth, and Fernandez closed the door on Tulane despite giving up a pair of runs in the eighth.
Tulane starter Billy Mohl (4-2) appeared to be in control early in the game, retiring the first two batters he faced and getting a groundball to second off the bat of three-hole hitter Mark Jurich, but Jurich reached and went to second on an error, and Josh Bolen made the miscue hurt with a home run in the next at-bat to stake the Cardinals to a 2-0 lead.
Ryan McKinnon made it 3-0 with a solo bomb in the second, and the Cardinals took control of the contest in the third when J.T. LaFountain doubled, went to third on a single by Bolen and scored on Tulane's second error of the game before Jurich advanced to third on a single by Bolen and scored on a double-play ball off the bat of Ron Braun to make it 5-0 Louisville.
The Green Wave clawed their way back into the game in the sixth when freshman third baseman Tim Guidry singled, senior centerfielder Jonny Kaplan reached on an error and junior shortstop Tony Giarratano walked to load the bases, and Aubrey ripped a two-out RBI single back through the box to put Tulane on the board.
Giarratano scored Tulane's third run on a double-play ball to cut the lead to 5-3, but the Cardinals answered in the home half of the frame with a leadoff home run by Morgan Bojorquez to retake a three-run advantage.
Louisville called on its closer Carlos Fernandez in the seventh, and the senior right-hander gave up just a walk in the frame. He was one strike away from stranding a one-out single by Giarratano at first base, but Swackhamer battled back from a 0-2 count to club a two-run homer to right to cut the lead to one at 6-5.
As they had done before, the Cardinals answered with a single run in the bottom of the inning as Bolen hit a leadoff single, went to second on a walk and scored on an RBI-double by Bojorquez to account for the final score. It could have been worse for Tulane in the eighth as reliever Joey Charron - who came on for Mohl after Bolen's base hit - loaded the bases with nobody out after plunking Boomer Whiting, but the junior southpaw battled back to strikeout McKinnon and got Haley and Dave Williams, Jr. to hit into fielder's choices to escape the inning without any further damage done.
After giving up two runs in the eighth, Fernandez dealt in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts and a flyout to seal the game and the series.
Tulane returns to action on Tuesday, May 13 with a Popeyes Cup contest against cross-town foe UNO at Zephyr Field before playing the final series of the regular season against East Carolina at Turchin Stadium beginning on Thursday, May 15 at 6:30 p.m. Following the series with the Pirates, Tulane will play host to the 2003 Conference USA Tournament beginning on Wednesday, May 21 at Turchin Stadium.
