Baseball Returns Home To Host Conference Rival East Carolina

Friday, April 10

New Orleans, LA

6:30 p.m.

Tulane University

East Carolina

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Photo by: Parker Waters

Baseball Returns Home To Host Conference Rival East Carolina

Apr 9, 2026 | Baseball

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TULANE GAME NOTES

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane baseball team (17-17, 4-5 American), after taking two of three road conference games against Wichita State last weekend and then falling in a road contest against Lamar on Tuesday, returns home and takes on ECU (21-12-1, 6-3 American) from April 10-12 on Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. Game times are 6:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 1 p.m.

Promotions
Friday: Masters Weekend, Free Ball Marker for the first 250 fans
Saturday: Masters Weekend, Celebration of the 2001 Team
Sunday: Masters Weekend, Riptide Kids Club Day, Collectible Baseball Card Giveaway & post-game autographs from Trey Cehajic, Johnny Elliott, Owen Geiss, Matthew Major, and Aidan Rath

Media
The games against ECU 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 from Friday-Sunday. Airtime for the radio/stream for the games is 15 minutes before first pitch.

Pitching Matchup
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 and has eight total weekend starts on the campaign coming into the weekend. Overall, he is 1-3 record, a 8.73 ERA in 33.0 innings thrown. Cehajic has struck out 34 while allowing 18 walks and 47 hits this season.

ECU will counter with lefty Luke Payne in the series opener. Payne is 1-0 with 5.87 ERA along with eight strikeouts in 7.2 innings worked. This is his second start and seventh appearance of the season.

The Green Wave are slated to start graduate student left-handed pitcher Jake Toporek on Saturday. Toporek is 1-2 on the year with a 2.67 ERA with 30 strikeouts in 27.0 innings worked. He is limiting opponents to a .225 batting average. This is his 14th appearance and fourth start of the season including his third conference start. He started and threw 5.1 scoreless innings against Wichita State last Thursday. The Wagner University transfer went 8-1 last season with a 3.49 ERA.

The Pirates have junior lefty Ethan Norby on tap for Saturday. Norby is one of the top pitchers in the conference and is the Preseason Pitcher of the Year in the league. He is making his ninth start of the year. Overall, he is 3-1 with a 4.12 ERA along with 54 strikeouts in 39.1 innings pitched.

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

Scouting ECU
Davin Whitaker leads the club with is .379 batting average. He has 33 hits, 25 runs, three home runs, six doubles, two triples, and 25 RBIs.

Braden Burress is the team leader with 37 runs and 47 hits. He also has seven doubles, two triples, three home runs, 21 RBIs, 24 walks, and nine stolen bases.

Jack Herring is hitting .345 with 33 runs, 40 hits, 10 doubles, six home runs, 27 walks, and 31 RBIs.

Grady Lenahan has six home runs and 39 RBIs to go along with eight doubles, and nine stolen bases.

Gavin Van Kempen has started six games with a 1.84 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 29.1 innings pitched.

Sean Jenkins has been the top reliever with a 2-1 record, a 2.86 ERA, five saves, and 48 strikeouts in 34.2 innings.

Cliff Godwin coaches the program. Godwin is in his 12th year with the Pirates. He has a record of 453-226-2

Series History
Tulane leads the all-time series with East Carolina 42-38 since the first meeting in 2003. The Green Wave sport a 18-12 record in New Orleans, are 19-20 record all-time in Greenville, and are 5-6 when the games are played at a neutral site.

The Green Wave lost in the American Championship Game to the Pirates by an 8-2 margin (5/24/25) last season. The program won the regular season three-game set by scores of 20-5 and 7-2 in addition to a 15-5 loss.

The last series between the schools in New Orleans saw the Green Wave sweep the set from then No. 6 ranked Pirates by scores of 6-5, 7-3 and 10-9 (5/10-12/24). Tulane has won six of the last eight games over ECU also topped the Pirates in the 2023 AAC Championship Game by an 8-6 score to secure the league's automatic berth into the 2023 NCAA Regionals. The 2024 sweep by

Tulane was the first in the series since ECU did the same to the Green Wave during the 2018 campaign.

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

Who's Hot in the Last Five Games
Jason Wachs sports a .533 batting average, four runs scored, eight hits, three doubles, a home run, four RBIs, 14 total bases, a .933 slugging percentage, seven walks, and a .686 on-base percentage.

Tye Wood is hitting .467 with four runs, seven hits, a double, a home run, four RBIs, 11 total bases, four walks, three stolen bases, and a 578 on-base percentage.

Matthias Haas is hitting .429, three runs, six hits, and two doubles

Kaikea Harrison has six hits, three doubles, and two RBIs.

James Agabedis has a pair of home runs and five RBIs.

Trent Liolios has three hits and five RBIs.

J.D Rodriguez is 1-0 with 1.42 ERA with four strikeouts in 6.1 innings.

Jake Toporek is 1-0 with 0.00 ERA along with four strikeouts in 5.1 innings pitched.

LuisPablo Navarro is 1-0 with nine strikeouts in 6.0 innings worked.

Beau Sampson has pitched in three games with five strikeouts in 4.0 innings worked.

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

Tulane's pitching staff has yet to allow a triple this season in 34 games. The last time the Green Wave surrendered a triple was the second game of the series against Florida Atlantic last season when the lead-off batter hit a three-bagger to start the game (5/2/25). It has been 46 games (the final 12 last year and the first 34 this year) since the last triple was allowed. Those 46 games have accounted for 442 innings since Tulane last surrendered a triple.

Jason Wachs has reached base safely in all 34 games this season

Nate Johnson is hitting .316 with three home runs and 26 RBIs in the games he starts this year.

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

Tulane sports an 13-8 record this year in games that Hugh Pinkney starts behind the plate.

The program is also 4-3 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 seven games as the designated hitter.

Nate Johnson has started at three different spots on the infield with seven starts at first, 13 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.

Nate Johnson leads the club with 11 two-out RBIs.

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

The Green Wave are 5-1 in games that Jack Frankel starts on the mound.

Nolan Nawrocki, Brett Rowell, James Agabedis, and Matthias Haas have the team's only successful pinch hits on the year. On the flip side, the team's pitching staff has limited opponents to 3-for-23 (.130) 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 76 in the first 34 games.

The Green Wave lead the conference in walks (197) and in sacrifice bunts (25). The program is fifth in stolen bases (50) and sacrifice flies (18)

Tulane is fourth in hit by pitches (48) and fifth in ERA (4.91). The team is fourth in double plays (24) and seventh in fielding percentage (.973)

The program's pitching is averaging an impressive 9.3 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 9.75 per contest.

The program is fourth in the American in shutouts (1) and fifth in strikeout to walk ratio (1.93).

The Tulane pitching staff has recorded 13 games with double figure strikeout totals this season.

Of the 23 new players on the roster this season, 19 have already made their Tulane debuts following the first 34 games of the season. The only newbies that have not appeared in a game 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 walks (34). He is third in hit by pitches (12) and seventh in doubles (11) and tied for seventh in stolen bases (12)

Jason Wachs leads in doubles (13) and is fourth in on-base percentage (.484). He is fifth in both walks (28) and RBIs (33).

Kaikea Harrison is second in doubles (12) and eighth in runs (33).

Jack Frankel leads in complete games with one.

Sam Larson is second in appearances (18) and tied for eighth in saves (2)

Jude Abbadessa is third in appearances (16).

J.D. Rodriguez is fifth in wins (4) and seventh in ERA (3.44).

James Agabedis leads in sacrifice bunts (6).

Trent Liolios is tied for second in sacrifice bunts (5)

Tye Wood is fifth sacrifice flies (4), seventh in sacrifice bunts (4), and tied for seventh in stolen bases (12).
Tom Vincent is tied for eighth in saves (2).

Trey Cehajic is second in games started (8).

Notables from Lamar Game - 4/7
The Green Wave lost the midweek to the Cardinals by a 9-5 score.

Jason Wachs had his 11th multi-hit contest of the season and his 10th multi-RBI performance of the campaign.

Tulane is now 2-13 when the opponent scores in the first inning.

The program is 1-7 when committing two or more errors in contest.

Tulane falls to 3-7 when the pitching staff walks five or more batters.

On the flip side, the program falls to 13-8 when drawing 5+ walks in a game this year.

The team is also now 3-11 when scoring five runs or fewer in a game.

The loss dropped Tulane to 6-11 in true road games this season.

The loss dropped Tulane to 14-8 all-time against Lamar.

The Green Wave are 3-3 against current Southland Conference schools this season and 310-169 all-time.

Toporek Honored By the American
Jake Toporek, after helping the team win the road conference series over Wichita State over the weekend, was named to the American Conference's Weekly Honor Roll, the league office announced on April 6.

He started in conference play for the second time this season (4/2) and limited the Shockers to no runs in 5.1 innings with four strikeouts while surrendering just three hits and no walks. He also allowed just two men to get as far as second base. His start of 5.1 innings was only the sixth time, at that point, that a Tulane starting pitcher worked past the fifth inning this season. He limited Wichita State to a .156 batting average against on the week.

This is the first time Toporek has been selected in his Tulane career. Overall, this is the sixth time that Tulane baseball has been honored weekly by the conference this season.

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 homestanding going and welcomes in Southeastern Louisiana (21-13) on Tuesday, April 14, on Greer Field at Turchin Stadium starting at 6:30 p.m.

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