Baseball Drops Fall Exhibition to Rice, 9-4
Oct 11, 2014 | Baseball
HOUSTON - Inclement weather conditions could not keep Tulane's baseball program from taking the field against Rice on Saturday afternoon at Reckling Park, but the Green Wave fell to the Owls, 9-4, in a 14-inning tilt after a two-hour delay kept the two teams from beginning the exhibition at the regularly-scheduled time.
Tulane held a 2-0 lead through the first eight innings of action, but Rice battled back by rattling off all nine of their runs from the eighth inning to the 12th. The Green Wave totaled 12 hits in the game, including two apiece from senior Garrett Deschamp and sophomores Lex Kaplan and Stephen Alemais. Tulane also used a plethora of arms in the contests, as they rolled out ten different pitchers during the action.
The game will not count towards Tulane's win-loss record for the 2015 season, but instead allowed David Pierce and his coaching staff an opportunity to see their players in action against someone other than themselves for the first time this fall.
"The best thing about this was for us to have the opportunity to come in and play another team who is really talented," stated Pierce. "It was a great measurement. I thought early on, we had some really good at-bats and we threw the ball really well. We just have to be better at decision making and what we are trying to do with the baseball. There is a lot of information and positives that will come from this."
Tulane struck first on the afternoon, as Alemais scored on an RBI-single off the bat Deschamp in the top of the fourth. The following inning, Tulane collected some extra-base hits as Kaplan doubled before coming home on an RBI-double by Alemais during the very next at-bat.
The Green Wave faced a little adversity in the bottom of the fifth, as Rice put two runners on base against Green Wave redshirt freshman Sam Bjorngjeld. Redshirt sophomore Eric Steel relieved Bjorngjeld from the bullpen, retiring the next two batters to end Rice's threat.
However, Rice cut Tulane's lead in half in the bottom of the eighth. Junior transfer pitcher Patrick Duester allowed an infield single to Rice's Charlie Warren who then moved to second on a wild pitch. Warren advanced to third on a groundout, and then came home on Hunter Kopycinski's sacrifice fly to deep center field, giving Rice their first run of the game.
In the ninth, Rice tacked on three more runs to take the lead once and for all. The Owls also scored twice in both the 10th and 11th frames while adding their final run in the 12th. Tulane committed errors in the field in the ninth and 10th innings to allow Rice to hang around.
"We really have to be aware of great defense and pitching and how to manufacture runs," added Pierce. "That's how our game is right now. The three-run home run is somewhat obsolete. We have to continue to work on the short game and make the other team earn it. Today, we gave (Rice) a couple of runs because we didn't take care of the baseball."
Sophomore Hunter Lapeyre homered in the top of the 14th with junior Cameron Burns on base to give Tulane their third and fourth runs of the day.
Sophomore Corey Merrill, junior Ian Gibaut, redshirt junior Alex Massey, junior Tim Yandel and Duester all totaled 2.0 innings for the Green Wave on the mound. Freshman Jackson Johnson, junior Jordan Gross and redshirt sophomore Dan Rankin each pitched one frame while Bjorngjeld and Steel combined to pitch the fifth inning.
Seniors John Gandolfo and Tyler Wilson and sophomores Hunter Hope, Jake Willsey and Hunter Williams also notched hits on the day for the Green Wave.
The Green Wave will return home for another week of fall ball practices before hosting crosstown rival New Orleans at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium at noon on Saturday, Oct. 18. Admission to the contest is free.
Season ticket packages and renewals for the 2015 Tulane baseball season will be released soon. The deadline to be eligible for priority seating is January 15, 2015. To secure new seats with a deposit of $50 per season ticket, call (504) 861-WAVE, visit www.TulaneGreenWave.com, or visit the Athletics ticket office on the first floor of the James W. Wilson, Jr. Center Monday through Friday, 8:30am-5pm.
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