Baseball Off to Alabama For Second Conference Series of the Season

Friday, March 27

Birmingham, AL

5 p.m.

Tulane University

UAB

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Baseball Off to Alabama For Second Conference Series of the Season

Mar 26, 2026 | Baseball

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TULANE GAME NOTES

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane baseball team (14-12, 2-1 American), riding a three-game winning streak, gets on the road to Birmingham, Alabama against UAB (15-10, 1-2 American) for the second conference series of the season from March 27-29 at Young Memorial Field. Game times are 5 p.m., 2 p.m., and 1 p.m.

Media
The three games against UAB will be broadcasted on ESPN +. The Voice of the Green Wave, Corey Gloor, will call the action on the Tulane Sports Network from Learfield on WRBH 88.3 FM/ Varsity Network on Friday- Sunday. Airtime for the radio/stream for the games is 15 minutes before first pitch.

Pitching Matchups
The Green Wave will start graduate student Trey Cehajic on Friday. The right-hander went 5-2 last year in his second year as a member of the Green Wave. He sported an ERA of 4.89 with 57 strikeouts in 57 innings worked. He has started the first six Fridays this season with a 1-1 record, a 7.20 ERA in 25.0 innings thrown. Cehajic has struck out 31 while allowing 15 walks and 30 hits this season.

The Blazers are starting junior right-handed starter Mason Steele. Steele is making his seventh start of the season. He is 2-2 with one complete game and a 4.91 ERA. Steele has pitched 33.0 innings with only nine walks and 31 strikeouts.

Tulane will start sophomore right-handed pitcher Jack Frankel on Saturday. Frankel hails from Plano, Texas and is in his first year with the program. Last season, while at Liberty, he went 4-3 with a 3.40 ERA. He also struck out 32 in 45 innings pitched. Frankel has been the team's best starting pitcher in the early going with a 1-2 record to go along with a 4.45 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 28.1 innings thrown. He threw a complete game with one run allowed against Harvard (2/22) in earning the victory. This is his third Saturday start of the season although he was chosen to throw the middle game of the series on Sunday afternoon against TCU (3/8).

UAB has not announced the team's expected starter for both Saturday and Sunday. Tulane's Sunday starter is also to be determined depending on the results and relief pitcher usage through the first two games of the series.

Scouting UAB
The Blazers defeated Jacksonville State in the midweek on Tuesday, March 24, by a 16-11 margin. UAB used seven pitchers and totaled 14 hits to get the victory.

UAB lost two of three to East Carolina on the road to start conference play last weekend.

The Blazers are being led by John Paul Head. Head already has 13 home runs this season to go along with 30 RBIs, 28 runs, 29 hits, six doubles, 22 walks, and five stolen bases. He also is hitting .322 with a 74 total bases.

Andrew Hunt has 25 hits, 21 runs scored, and 18 walks plus a .313 batting average.

Kevin Hall Jr. sports a .319 batting average with 23 runs and 23 hits plus nine stolen bases.

Alex Dupuy is hitting .309 with five home runs, seven doubles, and 21 RBIs. He also has appeared in two games on the mound.

Carter Samuelson leads the team's pitchers with a 4.18 ERA.

Mason Steele is the club leader with 31 strikeouts and 33 innings thrown.

UAB has three sons of former big-league players on their roster in Austin Pierzynski, Wesley Helms, and Ryan Olsen.

The Blazers started the season with a ranked victory over then No. 13 Florida. The team also has a pair of victories over Cincinnati.

The program is under the guidance of Casey Dunn. Dunn is in his fifth year in charge of the Blazers and sports a 113-130 record at UAB. Overall, he is in his 22nd year as a collegiate head coach and is 646 -553.

Series History
Tulane is 44-24 all-time against the Blazers since the start of the series in 1996 when the Green Wave swept all three games of the series at home. Tulane took two of three over UAB last season in New Orleans (4/11-13). The last time the Green Wave played UAB on the road was during the 2024 campaign with the Blazers taking the series. Dating back to the 2013 season, Tulane has lost two of the last three series to the Blazers.

Coming In On A Streak
Jason Wachs, despite seeing his hitting streak snapped at 23 games following the opening game of the season against LMU, has still now reached base safely in 52 consecutive games dating back to the end of last season.

Who's Hot in the Last Five Games
Trent Liolios is hitting .500 with five hits, five runs, three doubles, seven RBIs, 10 total bases plus eight walks, and no strikeouts.

Jason Wachs is hitting .412 with 10 runs, two doubles, a triple, a home run, five RBIs, five walks, a slugging percentage of .824, and an on-base percentage of .583.

Nate Johnson is hitting .421 with four runs, eight hits, two doubles, a home run, five walks, and eight RBIs.

Kaikea Harrison sports a .300 batting average to go along with six RBIs, five runs, and six hits.

Jack Brafa has appeared in two games with four strikeouts in four innings along with a 2.25 ERA and a 1-0 record.

J.D. Rodriguez has started two games with a 1.42 ERA along with six strikeouts in 6.1 innings worked.

Beau Sampson has two relief appearances with a save and five strikeouts in 1.2 innings thrown.

Jude Abbadessa has pitched in three games and 8.1 innings with one run allowed and six strikeouts.

Trends
Dating back to the end of last season, three of last five hits that James Agabedis III has are home runs.

Jason Wachs has reached base safely in all 26 games this season

Johnny Elliott has reached base safely in his last 10 games.

Nate Johnson is hitting .367 with three home runs and 22 RBIs in the games he starts this year.

Kaikea Harrison leads the team with 10 multiple run scored games.

Tulane sports an 11-5 record this year in games that Hugh Pinkney starts behind the plate.

The program is also 3-1 in games that Matthias Haas starts as the designated hitter.

Haas has started at four different positions this season with five games at first, eight games at third, six games in right field, and four games as the designated hitter.

Nate Johnson has started at three different spots on the infield with seven starts at first, five at second, and three at third. He also has batted in six different spots in the starting lineup order (4th - 9th).

Tye Wood (LF), Kaikea Harrison (SS) and Tanner Chun (CF) are the only three players on the team to start all the team's games at the same position all season long.

Wood and Nate Johnson are tied for the club lead with seven two-out RBIs.

Nolan Nawrocki and Brett Rowell have the team's only successful pinch hits on the year

After leading the American Conference last season with 131 doubles as team, Tulane is again among the leaders this season and are currently the league leader in two-baggers with 60 in the first 26 games.

The Green Wave lead the conference in walks (156) and are third in stolen bases (42).

Tulane is third in hit by pitches (44) and fifth in fielding percentage (.971)

The program's pitching is averaging an impressive 9.9 strikeouts per game to place fourth in the American Conference. Tulane ranked second in the league in strikeouts a year ago with an average of 9.8 per contest.

The Tulane pitching staff has recorded 12 games with double figure strikeout totals this season.

The program is third in shutouts (1) and fourth in ERA (4.81).

Of the 23 new players on the roster this season, 19 have already made their Tulane debuts following the first 26 games of the season. The only newbies that haven't appeared in a game yet this season are RHP Max Mazinter, OF Cole Berge, OF/3B Matthew Major, and RHP Owen Geiss.

Individual Conference Leaders
Tanner Chun leads the American Conference in hit by pitches (11) and walks (27). He is also fourth in stolen bases (10).

Jason Wachs leads the conference in doubles (10) and seventh in RBIs (27).

Jack Frankel leads in complete games with one.

J.D. Rodriguez and Jack Brafa are tied for fifth in wins (3). Rodriguez is also tied for eighth in appearances (11) along with Jake Toporek and Sam Larson.

Jude Abbadessa and Sam Larson are tied for second in appearances (13).

Kaikea Harrison is third doubles (9) and fourth in runs scored (30).

Tye Wood is second sacrifice flies (4) and in hit by pitches (9) plus ninth in walks (19).

Tom Vincent is eighth in saves (2).

Trey Cehajic and Frankel are tied for the lead in starts (6).

Notables from Grambling State Game - 3/25
The game marked the fifth time Tulane has played a run-shortened game this season. Tulane is 4-1 in those games.

The team has now scored in double figures in eight games.

Over the last nine games, Tulane's relief pitchers have thrown 54.1 innings with just 14 runs allowed while striking out 64.

The Green Wave improved the team's record to 4-0 all-time against Grambling.State

The program is now 3-0 on Wednesday this season.

Nate Johnson's six RBIs match his career high set exactly a month ago against South Alabama (2/25/25)

Johnson's grand slam was the second of the season for a Tulane player (James Agabedis vs. South Alabama – 2/25/25).

Tye Wood's four walks were a season-high for a Tulane player and tied the school record that was last achieved by Marcus Cline against ECU during the 2024 campaign (5/10/24).

The team's 16 walks drawn were a season high for the program and the most since achieving the school record of 19 against Jackson State during the 2006 season

Wachs and Abbadessa Honored By the American
Jason Wachs and Jude Abbadessa were both named to the American Conference Weekly Honor Roll following the sixth week of the season (3/23).

Wachs, a sophomore outfielder from Pembroke Pines, Florida, helped lead the Tulane offense on the week as he hit .400 with eight runs scored, a pair of doubles, a triple, a home run and 13 total bases. He also walked seven times, had an on-base percentage of .609, a slugging percentage of .867 while driving in four runs.

Abbadessa, a graduate student from Endicott, New York, aided the pitching staff to four wins on the week as he went 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA in 7.1 innings in two appearances out of the bullpen. He faced 28 batters, allowed just one run on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

This is the second time that Wachs has been honored by the conference in his career (Honor Roll - 5/12/25). This is the first time Abbadessa has been selected in his Tulane career. Overall, this is the fourth and fifth times that Tulane baseball has been honored weekly by the conference

Green Wave Chosen For Fourth and Has Two Named Preseason All-Conference
In a vote of the league's coaches, Tulane was picked for fourth and had two players selected as American Preseason All-Conference. The Green Wave were chosen for fourth overall with 57 points. The team also saw outfielder Jason Wachs and designated hitter Matthias Haas chosen as Preseason American All-Conference.

The 2026 Schedule
The Green Wave hosts 27 games at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium, along with one neutral-site game in Mississippi and 28 road contests in 2026. Tulane will compete across seven states, including matchups in California, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, Kansas, Florida, and North Carolina. Notable opponents include seven teams that participated in the 2025 NCAA Tournament: Southern Miss (2 games), UTSA (3), Creighton (3), East Carolina (3), TCU (3), Mississippi State (1), UCLA (1), and LSU (1).

The 2026 Schedule - Part Two
Tulane is playing games against five teams this season that are ranked in the USA Today's Preseason Coaches' Poll in No. 1 LSU, No. 2 UCLA, No. 6 Mississippi State, No. 10 TCU, and No. 20 Southern Miss.

Uncommon Road Start
Tulane's start on the road this season is the first for the program since 2023 and only the 11th time since 1979 the program has not started the season with games in New Orleans (1979, 1980, 1982, 1993, 2002, 2006, 2013, 2015, 2023, and 2026)

A Brotherly Connection
Tulane has a pair of brothers on the 2026 roster in sophomore infielder Nate Johnson and graduate student infielder Jake Johnson. The two are Tulane's first set of brothers on a team since 2017 when twins Paul Gozzo, a catcher, and Sal Gozzo, an infielder, were playing for the Green Wave. The 2016 team also had brothers on the squad in Ross Massey, a left-handed pitcher, and Alex Massey, a right-handed pitcher.

Who is Back?
The Green Wave return 14 players from the 2025 squad that a made a run to the 2025 American Championship Game for the third straight season this season in James Agabedis (infielder), Kaikea Harrison (infielder), Matthias Haas (infielder/outfielder), Tanner Chun (outfielder), Julius Ejike-Charles (left-handed pitcher/outfielder), Jason Wachs (outfielder), Hugh Pinkney (catcher), J.D. Rodriguez (right-handed pitcher), Nate Johnson (infielder), Will Clements (right-handed pitcher), Michael Devenney (right-handed pitcher), Jacob Moore (right-handed pitcher), Blaise Wilcenski (right handed pitcher), and Trey Cehajic (right-handed pitcher)

Inside the Numbers of the Returners
The team's 14 returning players accounted for 52.7 percent of the runs (204/387), 53 percent of the hits (287/541), 55 percent of the doubles (72/131), 58 percent of the triples (7/12), 45 percent of the home runs (23/51), 49 percent of the RBIs (178/360), 52 percent of the total bases (442/849) and 55 percent of the walks (159/287). On the mound, the club returns 48.4 percent of the wins (16/33), 53 percent of the game started (31/58), 43 percent of the innings (212/532) and 34 percent of the strikeouts (308/547).

Newcomers
Tulane added 23 new players to the roster this year. The list includes seven graduate students (Tye Wood, Brett Rowell, Trent Liolios, Jack Johnson, Jake Toporek, Tom Vincent and Aidan Rath), a senior (Nolan Nawrocki), seven juniors (Jude Abbadessa, Sam Larson, Caden Tarango, Jack Brafa, Beau Sampson, Owen Geiss, and Max Maxinter), four sophomores (AJ Groeneveld, Jack Frankel, Johnny Elliott, and LuisPablo Navarro) and four true freshmen (Bryson Ayala, Cole Berge, Evan Burg and Matthew Major).

The 2025 Season Quick Hitters
Tulane went 33-25 last season and had five American All-Conference selections on the year in Michael Lombardi (P – 1st), Connor Rasmussen (2B – 1st), Gavin Schulz (DH – 2nd), Jason Wachs (All-Freshman) and Tanner Chun (All-Freshman). The five selections are tied with the 2024 team for the most for the program since 2016 (seven).

The team also had three chosen for the league's All-Tournament Team in Schulz, Tayler Montiel and Theo Bryant IV plus a pair on the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA) All-State Team in Lombardi and Rasmussen.

Additionally, the program had three players selected in the 2025 MLB Draft in Lombardi (Kansas City Royals – 2nd round), Montiel (Arizona Diamondbacks – 12th round), and Rasmussen (Kansas City Royals – 15th round).

2025 Fun Stat Facts
Jason Wachs was ninth in the conference in batting average (.335) and on-base percentage (.457). Wachs and Tanner Chun were tied for 10th in the league in triples (2). Matthias Haas ranked second in the conference in doubles (21) and 26th in batting average (.303). Kaikea Harrison was tied for the conference lead in sacrifice bunts (8) and 38th in batting average (.283). Trey Cehajic and Blaise Wilcenski were tied for 10th in the league in wins (5).

Up Next
Next, Tulane returns home to finish the month of March against Nicholls on Tuesday, March 31, starting at 6:30 p.m. on Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. The team then plays the second road conference series of the campaign against Wichita State (17-9, 2-1 American) from April 2-4. Game times are 6:05 p.m., 6:05 p.m. and 1:05 p.m.

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