Baseball's Offense Explodes in Finale to Earn Sweep of George Washington

Sunday, February 17

New Orleans

1 PM

Tulane University

George Washington

Baseball's Offense Explodes in Finale to Earn Sweep of George Washington

Feb 17, 2019 | Baseball

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS – After a call that seemed to change the momentum of the entire game to the opposition, the Tulane Green Wave rallied in a big way by exploding for an eight-run inning leading to a 16-6 victory on Sunday to secure the weekend sweep of the George Washington Colonials.

In the top of the sixth, a fly ball that was trailing foul went off the glove of third baseman Kody Hoese and was called fair by the umpires which allowed two runs to score to give George Washington (0-3) the lead at 4-3. It was no matter, however, as Tulane (3-0) opened the floodgates offensively and produced all eight runs on just four hits in the frame to jump out for good and stay there to complete the weekend unbeaten.

"The most important thing for us right now is to get the wins," assistant coach Daniel Latham said. "Good or bad, mistakes, whatever it is, all that matters right now is that we just need to get these wins right now."

The Green Wave pounded out its 16 runs on 14 hits in the victory, getting base knocks from 10 different players and multiple hits from three. Grant Mathews led the charge going 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs and two runs scored and two walks. Trevor Jenson had a triple among his two hits and two runs scored, while Hoese went 2-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored.

One of the biggest hits of the day came from the bat of freshman Hudson Haskin, who in that sixth inning hit not only his first home run of the season, but the team's first grand slam of the year. Haskin had an eventful weekend after scoring the winning run on Friday in the opener and the game-tying run in the second game that led to an extra-inning win.

"It was just a big moment, not only getting a hit but helping the team in doing whatever we could to try and win this game," Haskin said.

The Colonials battled through facing a big deficit early and did its best to try and weather the Tulane attack, but by the end of the day George Washington used eight pitchers in the afternoon with Alex Kobersteen (0-1) suffering the loss after putting the game-tying and go-ahead runners on base before being replaced by Trevor Kuncl.

Tulane starter Chase Solesky tossed 101 pitches in his first start of the season and performed well only allowing four runs, scattering eight hits with four strikeouts and three walks in 5.2 innings of work. Reliever Justin Campbell (1-0) wound up with the win after pitching 1.1 innings of shutout ball with a walk and a strikeout.

After Solesky retired the side in order in the opening half of the first, Tulane took to the offensive half as with one out Hoese singled to deep short to open the frame. Jenson followed with a single to left and Mathews drew a walk to load the bases for the Green Wave.

With the bases full of Tulane players, Jonathon Artigues found a spot in left center and drove a 1-1 pitch to the outfield to bring in two and give the home side a 2-0 advantage.

After a pop up in the third, Jenson drilled one to the wall in left center and cruised in for the triple. It set the table for Mathews as he dropped in a single between three defenders in right field do score Jensen and extend the Green Wave lead to three.

The Colonials got on the board in the top of the fourth as the visitors brought in two runs on three hits to cut the Green Wave lead to one at 3-2.

After the Colonials took their first and only brief lead of the game Sunday, Tulane would proceed to send 12 batters to the plate in the inning to reclaim the lead for good. Seven of the eight runs the Green Wave scored in the inning came with two outs, with all four hits being for extra bases.

Of the 10 walks and six hit batters George Washington had in the entire contest, five free passes and one hit batter all came in this one half inning.

Owen would add a bit more insurance in the top of the eighth, getting a two-RBI double to make it a 13-4 game. George Washington would get their final two runs of the game in the top of the eighth, getting a two-run home run to make the score 13-6.

The Green Wave produced three more runs and three more hits in the bottom of the eighth, making it 16-6 as Connor Pellerin came on in the ninth and retired all three batters in order to close the game and seal the win.

Tulane returns to action this Tuesday and Wednesday, hosting the Lamar Cardinals for a midweek two-game series.

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