Tulane University
EAST CAROLINA
Offense Comes Through As Baseball Downs East Carolina, 8-2
Mar 31, 2007 | Baseball
March 31, 2007
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METAIRIE, La. - Seven of the Green Wave's positional starters had at least one hit and sophomore designated hitter Aja Barto led a 12-hit performance by going 3-for-5 with an RBI as the Tulane University baseball team defeated Conference USA foe East Carolina, 8-2, Saturday afternoon at Zephyr Field.
Tulane's three through six-hole hitters combined for seven hits and four RBI, and the Green Wave (22-7, 5-0 C-USA) tied as season high with four stolen bases. Junior shortstop Cat Everett, junior second baseman Brad Emaus and senior first baseman Tim Guidry posted two hits and one steal apiece, while sophomore right fielder Warren McFadden went 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
The win, combined with Friday's 2-1 victory, assures Tulane's fifth consecutive series win over East Carolina (20-8, 3-2) and marks the first time since joining C-USA that the Green Wave started the league schedule 5-0.
"Aja had a good day, but I've always felt that Emaus and McFadden are our key guys," Tulane head coach Rick Jones said. "If they're going, we're in pretty good shape offensively. Today, they were. Both of them had good swings, had good approaches at the plate and they're working hard."
While the bats were having their way with East Carolina pitchers, Tulane starter Shooter Hunt (6-2) had a solid day as well. After giving up an unearned run with two out in the first inning, Hunt retired the next 12 men to step to the plate and allowed just one walk while striking out nine in 7.0 solid innings on the bump.
He gave way to rookie right-hander Preston Claiborne to start the eighth inning, and the freshman from Austin, Texas, responded by retiring the side in order during his first inning and pitching his way around a pair of singles in a scoreless ninth.
"We were confident going in after last night when Sean (Morgan) threw that great game," Hunt said. "The offense came through big time. Aja came up clutch with those two-out hits and had three hits today. I thought me and (pitching coach Chad) Sutter were on the same page all day.
"I thought the entire energy the whole team was big. I was just feeding off what everyone else was giving to me. I had my fastball working real well, I was spotting up on each side and I was able to put them away."
The Pirates wasted little time jumping out to an early lead as shortstop Dale Mollenhauer singled in the second at-bat of the contest, stole second and scored on a pair of Green Wave errors to give East Carolina a 1-0 advantage.
The lead would be short-lived, however, as Everett sparked a two-out rally with a single to right. Emaus followed with a walk and Guidry tied the game with an RBI-single to the gap in right central. Guidry tried to advance to second on the play and ECU catcher Corey Kemp's throw to Mollenhauer sailed into centerfield, which allowed Emaus to touch the paystation. In the ensuing at-bat, McFadden hit a bullet that third baseman Drew Schieber could not handle cleanly, and Guidry scored from 180 feet away to make it a 3-1 ballgame.
Tulane had opportunities to stretch the lead over the next three innings, but left the bases loaded in the second and stranded a pair in the third. In the fifth, however, Guidry got something going with a single to shortstop, stole second base and scored on a McFadden double. Two hitters later, Barto smoked an RBI-single back up the middle, and the Green Wave never looked back.
The Green Wave added a run in the sixth when Guidry dropped down a safety squeeze sacrifice bunt to score sophomore left fielder Anthony Scelfo, but the Pirates attempted to sneak back into the game in the seventh when Kemp hit a one-out solo homer to left and designated hitter Jake Dean followed with a single to center.
Hunt responded by getting left fielder Brandon Henderson to fly out to center and striking out Schieber to close out his day. Tulane got the run back plus one in the home half of the frame as Everett drove in sophomore centerfielder Nate Simon with an RBI-infield single that saw ECU first baseman Stephen Batts and second baseman Ryan Wood collide, and Scelfo scored on an errant pickoff throw to third base.
"After the first inning, we were very sound defensively," Jones said. "We left some guys on, but we also had a lot of action on the bases. We executed some good things and put some pressure on them and stretched the lead as well as we could. Playing a good club like that, to get two wins in the first two games, you have to play well to do that and we did. I thought that we played well last weekend and I thought we had to raise our game up a little this weekend. So far, we have."
Tulane will have it sights set on its second consecutive C-USA sweep when the two teams close out the weekend on Sunday with first pitch slated for noon. Following the series finale, the Green Wave will play host to arch-rival LSU on Tuesday, April 3, before battling C-USA foe Memphis next weekend at Zephyr Field.
For ticket information, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at 504-861-WAVE. You can also purchase tickets on game day at the Zephyr Field Ticket Office, which is located on the third-base side of stadium and opens approximately two hours before first pitch for each Tulane home game.
