No. 19 Baseball Beats Illinois 6-5 in 10th on Montalbano's Walk-Off Homer

Friday, February 19

Greer Field at Turchin Stadium

6:30 PM

Tulane University

1-0

Illinois

0-1

Illinois

TULANE

Photo by: Parker Waters

No. 19 Baseball Beats Illinois 6-5 in 10th on Montalbano's Walk-Off Homer

Feb 19, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

Green Wave score four in the bottom of the 10th to complete the comeback

NEW ORLEANS – No. 19 Tulane baseball picked up right where they left off one year ago, as the Green Wave posted another walk-off win with redshirt-junior Jeremy Montalbano blasting a three-run home run in the bottom of the 10^th to defeat Illinois, 6-5.

Tulane (1-0) led throughout much of the contest, but allowed Illinois (0-1) to sneak back into it in the ninth with two runs despite two outs being on the board. The Fighting Illini then pinned the Green Wave against the wall in the top of the 10^th with three runs to take a 5-2 lead. Illinois' pitcher Nick Blackburn walked Grant Brown and Hunter Williams to lead off the frame before Lex Kaplan brought Brown home on a single immediately prior to Montalbano's winning homer.

"That was as good as it gets," said Tulane baseball head coach David Pierce. "Again we just hung in there. The back end of our bullpen got in some trouble. I'm just really proud of the way we played great defense all night. We were able to draw a couple walks there with Grant and Hunter and Lex comes up with a big hit, but just a super finish."

The Green Wave got a solid outing from junior starter Corey Merrill, who went 6.0 frames while punching out seven. Tulane scored two unorthodox runs early in the contest as Kaplan scored on an Illini throwing error from second base in the fourth before Hunter Hope came home on a wild pitch in the fifth. Merrill and reliever J.P. France, who made his first pitching appearance in over a year after missing all of 2015, held the Illini in check until their late rally to tie things up.

Patrick Duester entered the game in the ninth to stop the rally, but then allowed three runs in the extra frames. A fourth run nearly crossed home plate, but Richard Carthon was able to gun Mark Skonieczny down at the plate on a perfect throw from left field. Trevor Simms finished out the contest, pitching the final 0.2 innings to pick up the victory. Simms (1-0) allowed three hits.

The Fighting Illini's Blackburn (0-1) pitched 1.0 inning, giving up two hits while striking out three. Illinois starter Cody Sedlock struck out 10 across 6.0 innings. France struck out five for the Green Wave.

At the dish, Kaplan paced Tulane with a 3-for-5 performance with a game-high two runs. Montalbano was 2-for-5 with three RBI. Stephen Alemais, Jake Rogers, Richard Carthon and Shea Pierce also collected hits on the day, with Carthon's being good for two bases.

Pierce, Montalbano, Simms and Cade Edwards all made their Tulane debuts on the evening.

Adam Walton led Illinois with a 2-for-4 day at the dish.

The two teams will return to Greer Field at Turchin Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 4:00 p.m. CT. Right-handed pitcher Alex Massey (6-4, 3.67 ERA in 2015) will square off against southpaw Doug Hayes (0-0, 7.20 ERA in 2015) of Illinois. The series finale will be at 1:00 p.m. CT on Sunday, Feb. 21.

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