Tulane University
Wichita State
Baseball Suffers 1-0 Setback on Saturday
Mar 12, 2011 | Baseball
March 12, 2011
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NEW ORLEANS - The lone run of the contest came in the first inning and the nine innings took a mere one hour and forty-nine minutes to complete, but in the end the Tulane baseball team fell 1-0 to Wichita State on Saturday afternoon at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. Kyle McKenzie threw seven innings and allowed the one run on three hits, but the Green Wave could muster only three hits of their own as the Shockers evened the series at one game apiece.
"It was a really disappointing loss because offensively, we were just so unaggressive," said Tulane head coach Rick Jones. "We hit behind in the count most of the day and we took a lot of breaking balls early in the count. They are not being aggressive enough, not getting on top of the ball and driving it. You never know when a run is going to beat you. Kyle (McKenzie) pitched well but the walk in the first inning was the run that beat us. Give a lot of credit to their pitcher, he did a good job of keeping us off balance."
Wichita State (10-3) grabbed the early momentum on the Green Wave with a run in the first inning against starting pitcher Kyle McKenzie. The sophomore issued a pair of one-out walks and Chris O'Brien singled up the middle to plate a Shocker run in the top of the first inning.
Tulane (10-4) threatened in the first inning as well, as Nick Boullosa reached via fielding error on a bunt to start things off. After Boullosa was thrown out trying to steal second base, Garrett Cannizaro singled to left field and Blake Crohan walked to put two runners on base with one out. That's when WSU starting pitcher Tim Kelley dug in and struck out Jeremy Schaffer and coaxed a groundball out of Matt Ryan to end the inning.
McKenzie (1-2) labored through the second inning, but emerged unscathed, and then retired 15 of the next 16 batters he faced. He right-hander struck out He walked five batters in the game and only one runner reached third base after the first inning.
Kelly was equally as impressive for the Shockers, allowing only two base runners from the second inning through the sixth. In the seventh, Tulane had their best scoring opportunity when Briggs Barrios doubled down the right field line with two outs, but Nick Schneeberger struck out swinging to end the frame.
Wichita State looked to add to their lead in the eighth inning, after McKenzie allowed a single to start the inning and was replaced by freshman Alex Facundus. An error on a sacrifice bunt attempt put two runners on base and a successful sacrifice moved the runners to second and third with one out. Head coach Rick Jones pulled the infield in and it paid off as Cannizaro snagged a line drive off the bat of Johnny Coy and threw to third to complete the inning ending double play.
Kelly faced just five batters over the minimum in the contest, retiring the Green Wave in order in the ninth to close out his second win of the season.
In the game, Barrios had two of the three Tulane hits and Cannizaro extended his hitting streak to seven games with a first inning single. Crohan, Pippin and Brandon Boudreaux each walked in the contest to account for the base runners for TU.
The Green Wave will look to win the series on Sunday when they host the Shockers for a 1:00 contest on the Turf at Turchin. For ticket information, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE or log onto www.tulanegreenwave.com.
--TulaneGreenWave.com--
