Lombardi Leads Baseball to 6-3 AAC Championship Opening Victory On Tuesday

Tuesday, May 20

Clearwater, FL

Tulane University

31-24

Florida Atlantic University

36-20

Tulane

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: Connor Kvatek

Lombardi Leads Baseball to 6-3 AAC Championship Opening Victory On Tuesday

May 20, 2025 | Baseball

Box Score

CLEARWATER, FLA – The No. 5 seed Tulane baseball team (31-24) went the unconventional route in starting closer Michael Lombardi in the opening game against No. 4 seed Florida Atlantic (36-20) and it paid off as the squad, behind a dominate pitching performance, earned the 6-3 victory over the Owls on Tuesday, May 20, at BayCare Ballpark. Tulane has now won seven straight AAC Baseball Championship games since 2023.

Lombardi (4-0) was magical in going seven innings with one run and two hits allowed plus 11 strikeouts. Carter Benbrook entered next and after a scoreless eighth ran into a bit of trouble in the ninth with a pair of runs allowed. Tayler Montiel closed it out in escaping the two on, no out jam in the ninth with minimal damage. He surrendered a hit, two walks but also struck out a pair in throwing a scoreless inning for himself.

Gavin Schulz led the Green Wave offense with a pair of hits and an RBI. Tanner Chun also had a pair of hits plus scored a run. Jason Wachs had a hit, an RBI and a run scored on his home run. Connor Rasmussen picked up a hit and a run scored. Matthias Haas had a hit, a walk and a run scored. Hugh Pinkney walked, had an RBI and a run scored. Theo Bryant IV had a hit, an RBI and a walk.

FAU's Trey Beard (7-1) was handed his first loss of the season in allowing five runs (four earned) in six innings worked.

Florida Atlantic scored the first run of the game on Dylan LaPointe's double in the second

The Green Wave quickly tied things up on a Schulz triple in the third to score Chun.

Tulane grabbed a 2-1 advantage in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice bunt from Agabedis. A hit by pitch by Pinkney followed by a pair of wild pitches put the Green Wave in a position to manufacture a run and take the lead for good.

The Green Wave put three more runs in the fifth inning on a bases loaded walk from Pinkney followed by a single by Bryant that scored two. The first came in on the hit while the second scored on a throwing error on the play.

Tulane added a big insurance run in the ninth inning on a leadoff home run from Jason Wachs. It was Wachs' first home run of the season to increase the lead to 6-1.

The Owls made some noise in the ninth and scored runs on a Nick Romano RBI single and a bases loaded walk from LaPointe.

Next, Tulane plays the team's second game of AAC Baseball Championships starting at 12 p.m. CT/ 1 p.m. ET against the winner of the Rice / UTSA contest on Thursday, May 22.

Notables
The win improves Tulane to 6-3 all-time against Florida Atlantic with all nine games being played the last two years…The Green Wave are also now 3-0 against FAU in AAC Baseball Championship play the last two seasons…Tulane has won the program's last seven games in AAC Baseball Championship play since 2023 season including a pair of conference titles…The program has now won at least a game in 35 of 43 all-time appearances in conference tournament play dating back to 1976 in three different conferences (AAC, CUSA and Metro)…Jason Wachs extended his on-base streak to a career high 23 games with a home run in the ninth…His 23 straight games reaching base safely ties him with Connor Rasmussen for the longest streak on the team this season…Wachs also now has hit in 20 straight games which is both a career high and the high for any Tulane player this season…Michael Lombardi's seven innings thrown were a career high and topped his previous high of five innings against St. Louis (3/18/24)…It also tied a season high for any Tulane pitcher this season (Luc Fladda - 4x)…Lombardi's 11 strikeouts were also a career high and a season high for any Tulane pitcher…The last Tulane hurler to strikeout more in a game was Braden Olthoff with 12 punchouts against Houston (4/30/21)…This game, which saw the Green Wave strike out 14 Owls, was Tulane's 27th game this season with double figure strikeouts (13 more than all of last season)

TICKETS
Tickets for the upcoming football and volleyball campaigns can be purchased by calling 504-861-WAVE (9283), logging on to TulaneTix.com or visiting the ticket office at the James W. Wilson Jr. Center.

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