Green Wave Baseball Super Regional Diamond Notes
Jun 10, 2004 | Baseball
June 10, 2004
Tulane
(41-19, 21-9 C-USA)
vs.
Cal State-Fullerton
(40-21, 19-2 Big West)
June 12-14
Fullerton, Calif. ~ Goodwin Field
Super Regional Diamond Notes as PDF
Official Cal State-Fullerton Baseball Website
About Tulane
Tulane comes into the 2004 NCAA Fullerton Super Regional 41-19 on the season. After finishing tied for second in the regular-season Conference USA standings with a 21-9 league record. After coming up short in the C-USA Tournament, the Green Wave came back to win three straight in the NCAA Oxford Regional to advance to the Supers for the second time in school history.
For the season, the Green Wave are hitting .316 with a .483 slugging percentage courtesy of 126 doubles, six triples and 70 home runs. Junior outfielder Matt Barket leads the way with a .378 batting average, followed by fellow juniors Greg Dini and Wes Swackhamer with marks of .356 and .353, respectively. Dini paces the squad in home runs with 11, and sophomore right fielder/left-handed pitcher Brian Bogusevic leads the team in RBI with 68.
As a team, the Tulane pitching staff has tallied a 4.12 ERA in 530.1 innings in 2004. Opponents are hitting .282 off the Green Wave hurlers with 584 hits in 2,074 at-bats. Tulane has also done a good job of keeping the ball over the plate with 408 strikeouts and just 155 walks.
Cory Hahn and Brian Bogusevic pace the team with nine wins each, Bogusevic leads the club with 82 strikeouts and 107.0 innings pitched, and J.R. Crowel heads the squad with a 3.33 ERA. The Green Wave bullpen has 12 saves to its credit, including six by Daniel Latham.
Probable Starters
| Pos | Name | B/T | BA | HR | RBI | Note |
| C | Greg Dini | R/R | .356 | 11 | 50 | Team leader in home runs, 3rd in RBI |
| 1B | Wes Swackhamer | L/L | .353 | 8 | 33 | Could also start in OF or at DH |
| or Mark Hamilton | L/L | .229 | 3 | 28 | Hitting .317 since Lasik surgery in April | |
| 2B | Joe Holland | R/R | .322 | 8 | 32 | Hit in second hole for most of season |
| or Philip Stringer | R/R | .136 | 1 | 2 | Smooth defender has 21 putouts, 35 assists | |
| 3B | Brian Bormaster | R/R | .295 | 6 | 35 | Could also see time at IB and catcher |
| or Tim Guidry | R/R | .233 | 1 | 10 | Nicknamed Louisiana Leather for glove work | |
| SS | Tommy Manzella | R/R | .314 | 5 | 35 | Started every game in 2004 at short |
| LF | Matt Barket | R/R | .378 | 7 | 51 | Team's leading hitter and emotional spark |
| or Wes Swackhamer | L/L | .353 | 8 | 33 | Will play left when Bogusevic pitches | |
| CF | Nathan Southard | R/R | .306 | 6 | 36 | Started last 45 games in the outfield |
| RF | Brian Bogusevic | L/L | .343 | 10 | 68 | Rare combo of size, speed and power |
| or Matt Barket | R/R | .378 | 7 | 51 | Moves from LF to RF when Bogusevic pitches | |
| DH | Scott Madden | R/R | .279 | 4 | 13 | Has 3 sac flies and a pair of sac bunts |
| or Mark Hamilton | L/L | .229 | 3 | 28 | Will DH when RHP is on the mound |
Pitching Rotation
| Game-Pitcher | B/T | ERA | W-L | G/GS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Game 1 - Brian Bogusevic | L/L | 3.70 | 9-5 | 16/15 | 107.1 | 114 | 47 | 44 | 23 | 82 |
| Game 2 - J.R. Crowel | R/L | 3.33 | 8-2 | 16/16 | 97.1 | 95 | 45 | 36 | 30 | 73 |
| Game 3 - TBA | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
About Cal State Fullerton
Cal State Fullerton comes into the weekend 40-21 overall and fresh off a pair of lopsided wins over Pepperdine in the NCAA Fullerton Regional on Sunday. The Titans are hitting .330 as a team with a .469 slugging percentage on the strength of 134 doubles, 17 triples and 45 home runs.
Catcher Kurt Suzuki leads Cal State Fullerton with a .435 batting average, while outfielder Clark Hardman and utility player P.J. Pelittere follow with averages of .356 and .347, respectively. Suzuki paces the Titans with 15 home runs and 83 RBI, while infielder Ronnie Prettyman leads the squad with 11 stolen bases.
As a staff, Cal State Fullerton hurlers have a 3.89 ERA, and like Tulane, have done a tremendous job of keeping the ball over the plate with 407 strikeouts and just 149 walks in 545.2 innings of work. Opponents are hitting just .254 off Titan pitching, and the bullpen has three saves to its credit, including a pair by Ryan Schreppel.
Series History
This weekend's games will mark the seventh, eighth, and possibly ninth times the two teams will meet on the diamond, and the Green Wave enter the 2004 NCAA Fullerton Super Regional looking for their first-ever win over the Titans as Cal State Fullerton owns an impressive 6-0 lifetime mark vs. Tulane. Under head coach Rick Jones, Tulane is 0-4 vs. the Titans. In their last meeting, the Green Wave held a 1-0 lead going into the ninth, but pinch hitter Kurt Suzuki hit a two-out, two run double down the left field line to lift the Titans to a 2-1 win on Feb. 28 in game one of the 2004 KIA Baseball Bash at Goodwin Field.
How We Got Here
Tulane advanced to the 2004 NCAA Fullerton Super Regional after taking all three games it played in the NCAA Oxford Regional by a combined score of 22-5 to claim the second Regional Championship in school history.
The Green Wave won a nail-biter in the opener on Friday afternoon at Swayze Field, taking a 3-2 decision over second-seeded Washington. After No. 4 seed Western Kentucky upset host and top-seeded Ole Miss, 1-0, later in the day, the Green Wave used a strong performance on the mound by J.R. Crowel to dispose of the Hilltoppers, 7-0, in the winner's bracket game on Saturday.
Washington advanced through the loser's bracket to make Championship Sunday, and held a 3-0 lead after one inning of play via a three-run bomb off the bat of catcher Aaron Hathaway, but the Green Wave would score 12 unanswered runs the rest of the way to win a Regional title for the first time since the 2001 team emerged victorious in front of the home fans at Turchin Stadium at the NCAA New Orleans Regional vs. Oklahoma State (9-8).
Poll Position
As one would expect after a 3-0 sweep of the field at the 2004 NCAA Oxford Regional and advancing to the Super Regionals, the Green Wave saw their position in the polls jump by leaps and bounds after one round of the NCAA Postseason.
After falling out of the Baseball America Top 25 for the first time all season following the 2004 Conference USA Tournament, the Green Wave resurfaced at No. 18 on Monday. In addition, Tulane leaped from No. 28 in the Collegiate Baseball poll to No. 14, and made a similar jump in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Poll, going from No. 27 to No. 14.
Tulane were ranked No. 25 in the latest Sports Weekly/ESPN Top 25 Coach's Poll (released May 31), and the publication will not release a new poll until after the College World Series.
Cal State Fullerton, meanwhile, enters the weekend ranked as high as No. 5 by Collegiate Baseball. The Titans are also ranked in the Top 10 by Baseball America (No. 6) and the NCBWA (No. 9). CSF ranked No. 16 in the latest Sports Weekly/ESPN Top 25 Coach's Poll.
Remembering The Titans
The 2004 NCAA Fullerton Super Regional features a matchup that has a lopsided history as Cal State Fullerton has a commanding 6-0 advantage in the all-time series between the two schools.
More importantly, the Titans are 4-0 against the Green Wave in postseason play, having either eliminated Tulane from NCAA play or sending the squad into the loser's bracket. In the first meeting, CSF sent the Green Wave packing with a 4-0 win in an elimination game at the 1987 NCAA South II Regional (hosted by UNO on May 22). Five years later, it was a similar story as the Titans blanked Tulane 8-0 in the winner's bracket of the 1992 NCAA South I Regional (hosted by LSU on May 22) before the Green Wave were eliminated by host LSU with a 7-3 loss.
Then, in 1998, Cal State Fullerton once again sent Tulane to the loser's bracket with a 10-6 victory over the Green Wave (hosted by LSU on May 22), and Tulane would fall to Harvard, 14-11, later that day to conclude its season at 48-15.
The last postseason meeting between the two schools came in the 2001 College World Series on June 12 when Cal State Fullerton defeated the Green Wave 11-2 to conclude Tulane's season at 56-13.
Tulane and Cal State Fullerton have met twice during the regular season, but as in the postseason, the Titans won both matchups with an 8-4 loss in the 1988 Busch Challenge in the Louisiana Superdome and a 2-1 decision last season at the KIA Baseball Bash on Feb. 28 at Goodwin Field.
Tulane In The Super Regionals
The Green Wave will be making its second appearance in the NCAA Super Regionals this weekend in Fullerton, Calif., and are hoping to have a similar experience to its previous trip as Tulane won the 2001 NCAA New Orleans Super Regional two games to one over arch-rival LSU at Zephyr Field.
After dropping a 13-inning, 4-3 decision to the Tigers in game one, sophomore centerfielder Jonny Kaplan sent the first pitch of game two over the wall in left field and the rest of the weekend belonged to Tulane as the Green Wave went on to win the next two games, 9-4 and 7-1.
Tulane fell behind 2-0 in the top of the first of game one before scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead. The advantage would be short-lived as LSU's Wally Pontiff hit an RBI single in the top of the seventh to tie the game. After five scoreless innings, the Tigers' David Raymer hit a sacrifice fly to plate Chris Phillips in the 13th to provide the winning margin.
Kaplan's game-two homer sparked a four-run first, and Tulane took a commanding lead with two more runs in the sixth and another in the seventh. LSU cut the lead to 7-4 with a four-run explosion in the bottom of the seventh, but two Green Wave runs in the ninth quelled all thoughts of a comeback.
Tulane rode the left arm of Beau Richardson in game three and gave him plenty of run support as the Green Wave scored one in the first and six in the fourth to clinch the series.
What A Difference A Week Makes
At the conclusion of the 2004 Conference USA Tournament, the Green Wave were left scratching their collective heads wondering what went wrong. After all, Tulane had dropped a 2-1 series to host Houston the week prior to the tournament, and made a quick exit from the championship with back-to-back losses to UAB (10-4 on May 26) and Southern Miss (16-4 on May 27).
During that span, the Green Wave hit just .239 at the plate, posted a 5.14 ERA from the mound and allowed opponents to hit at a .337 clip. To make matters worse, Tulane committed nine errors that led to 12 unearned runs during the 1-4 skid.
With new life in the NCAA Oxford Regional, the boys in Olive and Blue regained their collective focus and bounced back to win three straight games - including two against No. 11 Washington. In contrast, Tulane committed just one error during its trip to Ole Miss, turned four double plays and got an excellent performance from its pitching staff as the Green Wave hurler combined for a 1.67 ERA while limiting opponents to a .240 batting average.
Blessing In Disguise
While no one in the Tulane dugout was pleased with the 0-2 showing at the 2004 Conference USA Tournament, the quick exit proved to be a blessing in disguise.
The Green Wave entered the championship tourney a bit banged up on the mound as the original weekend starters of Billy Mohl, J.R. Crowel and Cory Hahn had all missed at least one start during the previous two series. Mohl missed time with tightness in his right elbow, Crowel suffered from inflammation in his left rotator cuff, and Hahn struggled with pain in his right shoulder. In addition, Brian Bogusevic - who has started the last three Friday nights and got the nod in the first game of the C-USA Tourney - struggled to get his breaking ball over, and showed fatigue as his fastball did not have the velocity it had the week before.
After a week of rest and bullpen sessions, the staff bounced back at the NCAA Oxford Regional and all but shut down opposing offenses. Bogusevic got the weekend started off the right way with an 8.2-inning start where he gave up two runs on eight hits while strikeing out three and walking two.
Crowel followed suit on Saturday with a complete-game shutout of Western Kentucky, striking out seven, walking just one and scattering four hits (three singles and a double) in a 7-0 victory. While Hahn got off to a rocky start and did not have his best stuff on Sunday, he got the key outs when he needed them in the championship game, and gave Tulane seven solid innings.
Daniel Latham was the only player to come out of the bullpen all weekend, and the rookie from Covington, La., came through in a big way, stranding the two inherited runners he had in the ninth inning on Friday for a save, and tossing two perfect frames on Sunday in the 12-3 win over Washington.
C-USA In The Supers
For the first time in Conference USA history, the league has two teams playing in the round of 16 as both Tulane and East Carolina have advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals. Tulane will be taking Cal State Fullerton in the NCAA Fullerton Super Regional, and the Pirates will take on the South Carolina Gamecocks in the NCAA Columbia Super Regional.
While the league is relatively young, being established prior to the 1996 baseball season, C-USA has had a team make it to the Super Regionals five times since the NCAA adopted the 64-team format in 1999.
Houston became the first team to make it to the round of 16, advancing to the Super Regionals in 2000, but came up short in a three-game slate vs. San Jose State. Tulane hosted LSU in 2001 and took the series two games to one to become the first league team to advance to the College World Series (Tulane sandwiched a win over Nebraska between losses to Stanford and Cal State Fullerton in Omaha). Houston made it again in 2002 and 2003, but fell in both tries to eventual national champions Texas and Rice, respectively.
Road Warriors
With Tulane's 12-3 win over Washington in the championship game of the 2004 NCAA Oxford Regional, the 2004 Green Wave squad not only advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals for just the second time in school history, but also became the first team since the 2001 season to win three consecutive games away from home in the same weekend.
The last time Tulane won three consecutive road games in a weekend came back on April 20-22 when the Green Wave swept Southern Miss 6-4, 17-9 and 22-3 in Hattiesburg, Miss., at Pete Taylor Park. Since then, the Green Wave are just 30-45 as the road team (excluding a 5-1 showing in the 2001 Conference USA Tournament, which was played at Zephyr Field in Metairie, La.).
None of that mattered last week, however, as the Green Wave won the opener, 3-2, over the Huskies and blanked Western Kentucky 7-0 on Saturday before Sunday's Regional winner.
If the Green Wave are to advance to the College World Series, Tulane will have to do the same this weekend at Goodwin Field as the winner of the potential three-game series punches its ticket for Omaha.
Tulane And 40-Win Seasons
With a 7-0 win over Western Kentucky yesterday in the winner's bracket of the 2004 NCAA Oxford Regional, Tulane assured itself of at least a 40-win season. At 40-19 right now, Tulane has its eighth 40-win season in 11 years under head coach Rick Jones.
The Green Wave won 40 games in Jones' first year at Tulane, going 41-24 while advancing to the South Regional in Baton Rouge. He also advanced to the Regional in Baton Rouge in 1996 after going 43-20 and again in 1998 after going 48-15. Tulane also won 40 games in 1997 (40-21), 2001 (56-13) when the team advanced to the College World Series for the first time in school history, and in 2003 (44-19) when the Green Wave earned the No. 2 seed at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.
The only time Tulane won 40 games and did not make the NCAA Regionals came in 1997 when the Green Wave went 40-21 and were left out of the then 48-team Regional field. Tulane advanced all the way to the championship game of the C-USA Tournament before being left what might have been.
California Dreaming
One thing that has become a mainstay on the Green Wave schedule since 1997 has been the inclusion of several West Coast teams. After winning the Conference USA regular-season crown in 1997, but falling in the league tournament, Tulane was left out of the NCAA Regionals. Fearing that strength of schedule was the issue in being left home, Tulane head coach Rick Jones has featured at least one team from the Pacific Coast each year since.
The California experience has not always been pleasant to the Green Wave, however, as Tulane was just 12-17 against teams from the West Coast heading into the 2004 NCAA Fullerton Super Regional.
In 1998, Tulane defeated Long Beach in a three-game series (2-1) before falling to Cal State Fullerton in the NCAA Regionals. The Green Wave split a twin bill with San Diego State in 1999 and took a three-game series from the Aztecs in 2000 (2-1).
In 2001, however, Tulane dropped a three-game series to the Waves (2-1) and lost the only official game Tulane played at UCLA (a game the Green Wave were winning was called due to rain). Tulane also lost a pair of games in the College World Series to California teams Stanford and Cal State Fullerton. Last season, Tulane dropped 2-1 decisions at Pepperdine and at home vs. UCLA.
The Green Wave bounced back in 2003 with a three-game sweep of Pepperdine from March 22-24 at Turchin Stadium, but dropped back-to-back games to host Cal State Fullerton and UCLA in the opening games of KIA Baseball Bash at Goodwin Field, 2-1 and 12-2, respectively.
Earlier this season, Tulane won the opening game at Arizona State, 5-3, on March 12 before dropping the next two games 11-3 and 5-1 to drop the series to the homestanding Sun Devils. The Green Wave came back the next week to split a two-game midweek series from Southern Cal, however, with an 11-10 loss on Tuesday, March 16 and a 12-9 victory over the Trojans on March 17.
Wacky Weather On The West Coast
With the campus located in uptown New Orleans, members of the Tulane baseball team are used to strange weather. In fact, there is an old saying around the city: "If you don't like the weather in New Orleans, wait a few minutes. It'll change."
While the team has become accustomed to seeing people wearing shorts in the morning before making the switch to overcoats and thermals by evening, two of the Green Wave's previous three trips to California have been strangely haunted by peculiar weather.
In 2001, Tulane came to California for a three-game series against UCLA. After having one game canceled due to rain and dropping another 8-3, Tulane was poised to earn a split in the series as the Green Wave led 5-0 in the fourth inning before rain hit the area again and the game was called before it became official.
Then, in 2002, in the Green Wave's three-game slate against Pepperdine in Malibu, the weather was typical for the area for Friday night's game. But on Saturday, the Santa Anna winds swept through the area with such force that routine fly balls, and sometimes pop-ups, carried out over the outfield fence for home runs. The result, 43 hits and 51 runs as Pepperdine won a wild one, 30-21.
Last season, the weather was perfect during the KIA Baseball Bash, but the results were not as Tulane lost 2-1 to Cal State Fullerton, 12-2 to UCLA and 6-1 to defending national champion Texas.
The New Conference USA
Beginning in the 2005-06 academic year, Conference USA will have a new look as six baseball playing league schools will be leaving the conference while C-USA will be welcoming a half dozen new schools.
Saint Louis and Charlotte will be joining the Atlantic 10, while USF, Louisville and Cincinnati will join the Big East. TCU, meanwhile, will join the Mountain West Conference.
Conference USA will retain Tulane, Houston, East Carolina, UAB and Southern Miss, and will add the likes of Rice, SMU, Tulsa, Marshall, Texas-El Paso and UCF.
Kiss That One Goodbye
While Tulane has hit its fair share of home runs in 2004, the longball has come into play prominently in several of the last few Green Wave wins.
In the 5-4 win over Houston in the regular-season finale back on May 22, Tommy Manzella broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth with a three-run bomb that gave the Green Wave the lead for good, and Greg Dini hammered a towering solo bomb in the seventh to provide what proved to be the winning run.
All told, a round-tripper gave Tulane the lead for good in nine games during the 2004 season. Brian Bormaster hit a pair of three-run bombs, vs. UMBC and vs. USF, to give the Green Wave lead they would never relinquish, Dini hit a solo blast in the 10th inning at East Carolina to break a 10-all tie and spark a four-run frame, and Nathan Southard hit a pair of leadoff jacks at Cincinnati and UAB on Friday-night ballgames.
None, however, was bigger than the regular-season home finale vs. Saint Louis. With the score knotted at 9-9, Wes Swackhamer singled, Scott Madden walked, and Bormaster logged a base knock before Brian Bogusevic sent the home crowd home happy with a walk-off grand slam to put the finishing touches on a 12-9 win in the final game at Turchin Stadium.
More Home Run Notes
The Green Wave had posted multiple home run games 22 times in 2004 and sports a 17-5 record on those contests. For the season, Tulane has 11 two-home run games, a pair of three and four-home run games, and a season-best five bombs against Pepperdine.
During a stretch form May 2-16, Tulane posted at least one home run in seven consecutive games, which was the longest stretch of the season. More impressively, Tulane has posted multiple home run games in nine of its 12-game stretch from April 24-May 16.
The Green Wave has eight players with at least five home runs as Tommy Manzella has five, Brian Bormaster and Nathan Southard each have six, Matt Barket has seven, Joe Holland and Wes Swackhamer have eight each, Brian Bogusevic has 10 and Greg Dini has a team-best 11.
All In The Family
While Tulane assistant coach Matthew Boggs will no doubt be focused on the Green Wave's matchup with Cal State Fullerton during the 2004 NCAA Fullerton Super Regional, one could not fault him if he kept inquiring of the scores of the Atlanta Super Regional as his brother, Mitchell, is a sophomore pitcher for the University of Georgia.
Mitchell's Bulldogs will be taking on the Yellow Jackets of host Georgia Tech over the weekend, and the brothers could possibly meet up if both teams advance to the championship series of the 2004 College World Series.
Matthew, Mitchell's elder by four years, started as an infielder and outfielder for Georgia Tech from 1998-2002 (he received a medical-redshirt in 2000) and helped the Yellow Jackets to the CWS during his final season of eligibility in 2002.
Double Bogey
While he'll be taking the mound on Saturday in game one of the 2004 NCAA Fullerton Super Regional, sophomore Brian Bogusevic has made a name for himself both in the field, at the plate and on the rubber during the 2004 season.
Following a long line two-way standouts in the Rick Jones era of Tulane baseball that includes Michael Aubrey, Nick Bourgeois and Craig Brown, Bogusevic comes into the game hitting .343 with 14 doubles, four triples, 10 home runs and a team-best 68 RBI. On the mound, he ranks tied for second on the team with a 3.70 ERA to go along with a team-best 82 strikeouts and is tied for the team lead with nine wins (9-5) in 107.0 innings of work.
A rare combination of size, speed and power, his defense in right has been phenomenal all season, and has seven outfield assists.
There is another two-way player on the horizon for the Green Wave as Tulane signed Sean Morgan of Sugar Land, Texas for the 2005 season. As a prep junior, Morgan - who pitches and plays first base - went 11-1 with a 1.88 ERA and 94 strikeouts from the mound, and hit .430 with nine home runs and 46 RBI at the plate.
Rock You Like A Hurricane
The 2004 Tulane team has a bit of Hurricane in it this season as a pair of transfers from the University of Miami have played vital roles in the teams success so far in 2004. Junior outfielder Matt Barket and junior catcher/first baseman Greg Dini rank as the top two hitters on the team with batting averages of .385 and .364, respectively.
Barket has started all 57 games for the Green Wave so far and leads the team in batting average and stolen bases (12) while ranking second on the squad in doubles (17) triples (tied with one) and RBI (50). Barket's batting average has never dipped below .300 at any point during the season.
Dini, meanwhile, has started each of the last 54 games, mostly as the catcher but also seeing some time at first base, and has made his presence felt with 16 doubles while leading the team with 11 home runs and ranks third on the squad with 48 RBI. Defensively, Dini has a team-best 413 putouts and is fourth on the club with 39 assists. Included in his assist total is 11 caught stealing throw-outs and a pair of pickoffs.
Feeling A Draft
Tulane saw three players get drafted by Major League Baseball teams during the 2004 MLB First-Year Player's Draft on Monday and Tuesday as Wes Swackhamer was picked up during day one in the fifth round (150 overall) by the St. Louis Cardinals, and both Brian Bormaster and Cory Hahn went in day two to the Toronto Blue Jays in the 26th (777 overall) and 30th (897 overall) rounds, respectively.
The Green Wave also had a pair of 2004 signees get drafted as infielder Brad Emaus (Senoi, Ga./East Coweta HS) went to the Atlanta Braves in the 18th round (551 overall) and two-way standout Sean Morgan (Sugar Land, Texas/Clements HS) was chosen by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 25th round (736 overall).
Swackhamer, Emaus and Morgan can all attend Tulane during the 2004-05 season if they do not sign pro contracts and attend the first day of class in the fall.
The trio marked the fourth consecutive year that at least three Tulane players were selected in the MLB Draft. Jake Gautreau (1st round/Padres), Andy Cannizaro (7th round/Yankees) and Mat Groff (28th/Athletics) started the trend in 2001, followed by Nick Bourgeois (4th/Phillies), James Jurries (6th/Braves) and Beau Richardson (34th/Phillies) in 2002, and Michael Aubrey (1st/Indians), Tony Giarratano (3rd/Tigers), Jonny Kaplan (12th/Diamondbacks) and Cory Hahn (24th/Athletics) last season.
Tulane has now had at least one player drafted every season since 1996 and has had at least one get picked in all but eight drafts since the modern draft began in 1965.
Super Regional Experience
Tulane has three players with Super Regional experience as seniors Matt Mann and Joey Charron, along with redshirt-junior Scott Madden were part of the Green Wave's 2001 NCAA New Orleans Super Regional Championship squad. Madden was the teams starting catcher in the postseason, and hit .200 (2-for-10) with a double. Charron was the team's closer, and earned the save in the game-two 9-4 victory over LSU with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief. Mann, meanwhile, got one at bat and tallied four putouts in the game-one, 4-3 loss.
Road Trips
While the term "Road Trip" may stir visions of the trip to Emily Dickenson College from "Animal House" or the Tom Green movie "Road Trip", games away from the friendly confines of Turchin Stadium were anything by comical to the Green Wave in 2003.
But after going just 8-13 in games outside the Greater New Orleans Area a year ago, the Green Wave are 14-13 on the road in 2004. Six of the road wins came against teams ranked in the Top 25 (at the time), while four of the road or neutral site losses have come against ranked foes.
Tulane has a chance to improve on its record away from Turchin Stadium this weekend when the 2004 NCAA Fullerton Super Regional begins on Saturday, June 12 at Goodwin Field, but will have a tough road to hoe as the Green Wave have never beaten the Titans in six previous matchups.
Charron Reaches Milestone...Again
Senior reliever Joey Charron achieved another career milestone in the Green Wave's 17-13 victory over Conference USA foe UAB on Friday, April 16 in Birmingham when he logged the 28th save of his illustrious career against the Blazers.
Charron, who tied the old record against arch-rival LSU on Tuesday, April 6 at Alex Box Stadium, eclipsed the mark set by Brandon Belanger, who played for the Green Wave from 1999-2000, and served as the team's volunteer assistant last season.
The record is the second set by the diminutive southpaw as Charron also made history in Tulane's 14-10, 11-inning victory at East Carolina on Saturday, March 20 when he appeared in his 110th game in a Green Wave uniform.
The former mark of 109 was held by Todd Ardoin, who donned the Olive and Blue from 1995-98. Charron made the most of his record-setting appearance, earning the win after striking out three, walking none and picking off an inherited runner while scattering a pair of singles in 2.0 shutout innings to improve to 2-0 on the year.
For his career, Charron has now appeared in 124 games, has 27 saves and ranks eighth on the all-time strikeout list with 242. He entered the season ranked ninth on the career ERA list with a 3.18 mark. So far in 2004, Charron is 2-0 with a 4.50 ERA to go along with five saves and 32 strikeouts in 32.0 innings of work.
Tulane And The Goose Egg
The 2004 Tulane baseball team did something during the regular season that it has not done in over a quarter of a century - post eight shutout victories. The last time a Tulane team posted at least eight shutouts was back in 1978 when the squad posted eight blankings in 43 games.
Along the way, Tulane did not allow a single run in a three-game series sweep of Utah from Feb. 27-29. It marked the first time since the 1984 season that Tulane posted three straight blankings when the Green Wave defeated Jackson State 16-0 on April 7 before taking a doubleheader from Northwestern State 5-0 and 3-0 on April 9. Last Saturday's 7-0 shutout victory over Western Kentucky tied the 1978 mark.
The Green Wave narrowly missed five other shutouts as opponents scored a single run in a 6-1 win over Texas-Arlington (2/15), an 8-1 win over UMBC (2/20), a 10-1 win at Cincinnati (4/3), in a 13-1 win over Louisville (4/10) and a 17-1 win over Southern Miss (4/23).
The Complete-Game Goose Egg
Among Tulane's eight shutout victories in 2004, two came via the complete-game variety as Cory Hahn accomplished the feat on March 24 at East Carolina and J.R. Crowel got the first of his career in last Saturday's 7-0 blanking of Western Kentucky in the 2004 NCAA Oxford Regional.
Hahn's gem was big for the Green Wave as he scattered six hits and no walks while striking out seven to record the second complete-game effort of his career in a 9-0 win over the Pirates that gave Tulane its first Conference USA opening series since the league's inception in 1996.
Crowel, meanwhile, fanned seven, scatted four hits (three singles and a double) and walked just one vs. the Hilltoppers. He allowed just two to get as far as second, and one to touch the third-base bag.
Prior to the two CG shutouts in 2004, the previous time a Tulane hurler kept his foe off the board for nine innings came back on April 23, 2002 when Kris Kline tossed a shutout in the Green Wave's 7-0 win over UNO in game three of the inaugural Popeyes Cup.
Turning Two
Prior to the 2004 NCAA Oxford Regional, the Tulane defense had turned just two double plays in a one-month span. The Green Wave got a twin killing in the 9-5 loss to LSU in the Superdome on April 27 and did not get their next double play for exactly one month as Tommy Manzella and Joe Holland turned two in a 16-4 loss to Southern Miss on May 27 in the C-USA Tournament.
In the Regional, however, the double play figured big in the Green Wave's 3-0 run as Tulane turned three ground-ball double plays and got another line-out double play to get out of some sticky situations and advance to the NCAA Super Regionals for the first time since 2001.
