Baseball On the Road to Kansas

Thursday, April 2

Wichita, KS

6:05 p.m.

Tulane University

Wichita State

Apr 1, 2026 | Baseball

THURSDAY: WATCH | LISTEN | LIVE STATS
FRIDAY: WATCH | LISTEN | LIVE STATS
SATURDAY: WATCH | LISTEN | LIVE STATS

TULANE GAME NOTES

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane baseball team (15-15, 2-4 American) gets back on the road to play the third conference series of the season with the trip to Wichita, Kansas to take on Wichita State (20-10, 4-2 American) from April 2-4 at Eck Stadium. Game times are 6:05 p.m., 6:05 p.m. and 1:05 p.m.

Media
The games against Wichita State 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 Thursday- Saturday. Airtime for the radio/stream for the games is 15 minutes before first pitch.

Pitching Matchups
The Green Wave are slated to start graduate student left-handed pitcher Jake Toporek on Thursday. Toporek is 0-2 on the year with a 3.32 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 21.2 innings worked. He is limiting opponents to a .241 batting average. This is his 13th appearance and third start of the season. The Wagner University transfer went 8-1 last season with a 3.49 ERA.

Wichita State is slated to start junior righty Matthew Cuccias in the series opener. Cuccias is 3-0 on the year with a 2.84 ERA. In 31.2 innings pitched he has 34 strikeouts and is limiting opponents to a .159 batting average against.

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 game of the team's weekend series seven times this season. Overall, he has a 1-3 record, a 8.49 ERA in 29.2 innings thrown. Cehajic has struck out 33 while allowing 17 walks and 40 hits this season.

The Shockers have junior right-handed pitcher Brady Hamilton on tap for Friday. Hamilton is making his eighth start of the season. He is 3-4 with 38 strikeouts in 35.2 innings thrown.

Tulane's and Wichita State's Saturday starter is to be determined depending on the results and relief pitcher usage through the first two games of the series.

Scouting Wichita State
The Shockers have won four of the team's last five games and are an impressive 16-6 at home this season including a 16-11 victory over Washburn in a midweek on Tuesday.

Jayson Jones has led the offense with a .379 batting average. He also has 32 runs, 47 hits, nine home runs, and 36 RBIs.

Owen Washburn is hitting .371 with 27 runs, 39 hits, 10 doubles. four home runs, and 33 RBIs.

Alex Ulloa sports a .313 batting average with 30 runs scored and 36 hits plus 10 doubles.

Jaden Gustafson has already scored 41 runs this year to go along with six home runs and 28 RBIs.

Brady Pacha is one of the top relievers in the conference with a 2-0 record, a 1.59 ERA, four saves plus 28 strikeouts in 22.2 innings worked.

Johnny Nuanez is the top starting pitcher with a 3-0 record, a 1.80 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 25 innings worked.

Karsen Richard is averaging nearly two strikeouts per inning with 16 punchouts in 8.1 innings worked out of the bullpen.

Brian Green coaches the program. Green is in his third year with the Shockers and his 11th overall campaign as a collegiate head coach between his time also at Washington State and New Mexico State.

Series History
Tulane leads the all-time series with Wichita State 19-14 since the first meeting in 1993 a 5-3 victory in Honolulu at a neutral site contest. The Green Wave won two of three over the Shockers last season at home by scores of 8-6 and 11-3 in the final two contests of the series after falling 10-4 in the 2025 conference opener for both squads. The Green Wave won two of three the last time the programs met in Kansas during the 2024 season. Later during the 2024 season, Tulane defeated the Shockers by an 11-10 score in the American Baseball Championship Game.

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 56 consecutive games dating back to the end of last season.

Who's Hot in the Last Five Games
Kaikea Harrison is hitting .364 with five runs, eight hits, a double, four RBIs, nine total bases, three walks and a stolen base.
Trent Liolios sports a .333 batting average with four runs, five hits, two doubles, eight RBIs, and seven walks.

Nate Johnson is hitting .313 with five hits, a double, a home run and eight RBIs.

Tanner Chun has walked eight times and has a 591 on-base percentage to go along with four hits, five runs scored, three doubles, a .538 slugging percentage, and two stolen bases.

Tye Wood has seven walks, four walks, a .524 on-base percentage, four hits, a home run, and four RBIs.

Jack Brafa is 1-0 in two appearances with three strikeouts in 4.0 innings.

Beau Sampson has appeared in three games and struck out seven in 4.0 innings.

Tom Vincent has pitched 4.2 innings with six strikeouts in his two appearances.

LuisPablo Navarro is 1-1 with six strikeouts in 4.0 innings.

Blaise Wilcenski has thrown 5.0 innings with three strikeouts in his two appearances

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

Jason Wachs has reached base safely in all 30 games this season

Tanner Chun has reached base safely in 16 straight games.

Tye Wood has reached base safely in 15 consecutive games.

Nate Johnson is hitting .339 with three home runs and 24 RBIs in the games he starts this year.

Kaikea Harrison leads the team with 11 multiple run scored games.

Tulane sports an 11-7 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, eight 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, eight at second, and three at third. He also has batted in eight different spots in the starting lineup order (2nd - 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 nine two-out RBIs.

Trent Liolios is batting .750 (3-for-4) with the bases loaded

Nolan Nawrocki, Brett Rowell, and James Agabedis have the team's only successful pinch hits on the year. On the flip side, the team's pitching staff has limited opponents to 1-for-19 (.053) in pinch-hitting opportunities.

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 67 in the first 30 games.

The Green Wave lead the conference in walks (179), are second in sacrifice bunts (17), and are third in stolen bases (50).

Tulane is third in hit by pitches (46) and eighth in fielding percentage (.972)

The program's pitching is averaging an impressive 9.7 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 13 games with double figure strikeout totals this season.

The program is third in shutouts (1) and sixth in ERA (4.93).

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 (32). He is also tied for fifth in stolen bases (12) and tied with Kaikea Harrison and Jason Wachs for the doubles lead (10).

Wachs is fourth in walks (24) and eighth in RBIs (29).

Harrison is fourth in runs (33) and sixth in hits (39)

Jack Frankel leads in complete games with one.

Sam Larson is second in appearances (15).

Jude Abbadessa is third in appearances (14).

J.D. Rodriguez is tied for ninth in appearances (12) along with Jake Toporek and Blaise Wilcenski.

Tye Wood is fourth sacrifice flies (4), tied for fifth in stolen bases (12), seventh in hit by pitches (9) plus 10th in walks (22).

Tom Vincent is eighth in saves (2).

Trey Cehajic is tied for the lead in starts (7).

Notables from Nicholls Game - 3/31
The Green Wave earned a 6-2 victory over the Colonels.

Tulane pitched exclusively left-handed pitchers in the game in LuisPablo Navarro (3.0 IP), Julius Ejike-Charles (1.0 IP), Tom Vincent (3.0 IP), and Beau Sampson (2.0 IP).

The Green Wave are now 12-4 on the campaign when scoring six or more runs.

The offense's two strikeouts were a season-low.

The team's pitching staff held Nicholls without an extra base hit in the game. It was the fourth time the program had accomplished the feat (vs. South Alabama - 2/25, vs. Northwestern State - 3/18, and vs. UAB - 3/28).

Tulane improved to 10-5 this year when scoring first and 11-5 overall at home this season.

Kaikea Harrison's three-hit game was his third of the season. He also leads the club with 12 multi-hit performances.

The program is now 4-2 against Louisiana opponents this season

The Green Wave improved the team's record to 70-28 all-time against Nicholls.

Coach Uhlman improved his mark to 7-1 all-time against Nicholls.

The win improved Tulane to 311-167 all-time against Southland Conference opponents.

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 keeps the road trip going and heads to Beaumont, Texas to take on Lamar on Tuesday, April 7, starting at 6 p.m.

DOWNLOAD THE APP
Download the official mobile app of Tulane Athletics. Now, you can stay in touch with the Green Wave anytime and anywhere on your Android or iOS mobile device.

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For behind-the-scenes coverage, follow Tulane baseball (@GreenWaveBSB) on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

TICKETS
Tickets for the baseball season and the upcoming volleyball and football 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.

GREEN WAVE CLUB
Giving to the Green Wave Club provides Tulane Athletics with the resources student‑athletes need to excel in competition and in the classroom. Your support directly improves the lives of current and future Green Wave student‑athletes and enhances Tulane's competitiveness in intercollegiate athletics. Make a gift today by calling (504) 865‑5356, emailing green waveclub@tulane.edu, or visiting GreenWaveClub.com.

---TulaneGreenWave.com---