Tulane University
Marshall
Gomes Tosses Complete Game Shutout As Baseball Sweeps Marshall
Mar 25, 2007 | Baseball
March 25, 2007
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Senior right-hander Brandon Gomes struck out a career-high 12 batters and scattered five hits in a complete-game effort as the Tulane University baseball team completed a three-game sweep of Conference USA foe Marshall, 9-0, Sunday afternoon at Appalachian Power Park.
Saturday's 4-1 victory assured the Green Wave of their fourth consecutive C-USA opening-weekend series win, and Sunday's 9-0 decision marked the first time Tulane opened league play on the road and came away with a sweep. The complete-game shutout was the first by a Green Wave pitcher since then-junior Micah Owings accomplished the feat in a 7-0 win over Rice on June 12, 2005 in game two of the NCAA New Orleans Super Regional.
"This is the Brandon Gomes that we saw all fall and in the preseason," Tulane head coach Rick Jones said. "Today, in addition to having good life on his life on his fastball, he had control and command of his cutter and his split-finger and they were both plus pitches. When Brandon Gomes goes out there with three plus-pitches like he did today, it's going to be tough for any club and they didn't get many good swings as a result of that."
Gomes (3-2) had at least one strikeout in all but one inning, struck out the side in the first and finished the contest by fanning the final two batters he faced. Only one Marshall hitter got as far as third base, and that came in the second inning when second baseman Josh Valle stood 90 feet away from scoring with two outs already in the book.
Of the five hits Gomes allowed, four were singles. He retired the side in order three times and never faced more then four batters at any point during the contest.
"I think we just played a great game overall," Gomes said. "We had some great at-bats and made some nice plays in the field, and I was just the beneficiary of that."
While Gomes was getting the job done on the mound, he got plenty of support from his offense as Tulane tallied 13 hits on the day, including a three-hit day by sophomore left fielder Anthony Scelfo and two-hit performances by sophomore centerfielder Nate Simon, junior second baseman Brad Emaus and sophomore catcher Jared Dyer.
The Green Wave wasted little time jumping on the Herd as Emaus hit two-out triple to center to plate junior shortstop Cat Everett from second in the first. After a scoreless second, Tulane added single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings courtesy of error, an RBI-single off the bat of Dyer and a solo homer by s Simon, respectively.
Tulane loaded the bases to start the sixth on a walk, a hit batsman and a single, and both Simon and Scelfo drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and a grounder to second. Scelfo padded the lead in the eighth when he led off the inning with a single, stole second, and scored on Everett's slash-single in the ensuing at-bat. Simon and Scelfo accounted for the final score with back-to-back RBI-singles in the ninth to plate Dyer and sophomore third baseman Seth Henry.
"In conference play, it's not about winning the series - it's about winning as many conference games as you can," Jones said. "We talked about this yesterday and today, but we wanted to be as relentless as we could be today and we wanted to set the tone early. We wanted to let that other dugout know that we're not satisfied.
"Our badge today was `bloody and dirty' and that's the way we wanted to come back after the game was over. If you look at a lot of our guys, that's how they were today. They really played aggressively, we had a lot of energy on the bench and it was a lot of fun to be in the dugout with them today."
No Marshall player had a multiple-hit day, and first baseman Brendan Murphy was the lone Herd hitter to do better then a single with a two-out double in the sixth. Starter Adam Dobies (2-2) was tagged with the loss afer allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits and three walks while striking out a pair in 6.0 innings of work.
The Green Wave return to action on Tuesday, March 27, when they play host to Nicholls State at 6:30 p.m. at Zephyr Field. For ticket information, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at 504-861-WAVE.
