Tulane Baseball Looks to Get Back in Win Column
Apr 6, 2009 | Baseball
April 6, 2009
Complete Pregame Notes in PDF Format 
NEW ORLEANS- The Green Wave baseball club is looking to pick up another midweek victory as Tulane plays host to the Ragin' Cajuns of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette after a rough road series against C-USA foe Rice. The Owls took all three games from the Wave, who now stand at 17-14 overall and 1-5 in Conference USA play.
Senior Sam Honeck continues to swing the bat well for Tulane, leading both the team and C-USA in home runs and RBI with 11 and 47, respectively, while his RBI count finds him tied for fifth in the nation. The left-handed hitting Honeck has posted an impressive .809 slugging percentage while going 6-15 with two doubles, a home run and eight RBI in last week's four-game stint.
Drew Allain has also gotten hot recently, batting .538 in the four-game stretch last week. Allain also enjoyed a 2-3 performance against Rice on Friday, knocking in two of Tulane's three runs. Freshman catcher Jeremy Schaffer extended his hitting streak to 11 games over the weekend, while remaining atop the C-USA leader board, having thrown out 11 would-be base stealers. Junior shortstop Josh Prince has also turned in some solid numbers, posting a .350 average on the strength of six doubles and four triples. Prince has also stolen 24 bases this season to lead the club.
Aaron Loup led the pitching staff last week, as the southpaw posted the win over neighboring LSU on Wednesday night. Loup, who will start against the Ragin' Cajuns on Tuesday, threw 6.2 innings against the Tigers, striking out four to secure the victory for Tulane. Josh Zeid also turned in a solid performance on Sunday against the Owls, throwing 6.1 innings and striking out two. Collectively, the Wave staff is sporting a 4.16 ERA with 188 strikeouts in 272.2 innings of work.
Loup will face off against righty Greg Harmon from ULL. The senior from Crowley, La., has a 2.54 ERA and will be making his first start of the season against Tulane. The offensively-sound Ragin' Cajuns will look to get Harmon some run support behind team leaders Greg Fontenot (.364, six doubles, one home run and 14 RBI) and Kyle Olasin (.360, two doubles, two triples, two home runs, 12 RBI). Not far behind is Scott Hawkins and Les Smith, who have posted averages of .316 and .311 respectively. ULL currently boasts seven hitters whose average is above .300.
The Green Wave will look to contain the Ragin' Cajun bats beginning at 6PM on Tuesday evening at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
