Baseball Returns Home to Host South Florida In Key Conference Weekend Series

Friday, May 8

New Orleans, LA

6:30 p.m.

Tulane University

South Florida

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Baseball Returns Home to Host South Florida In Key Conference Weekend Series

May 7, 2026 | Baseball

FRIDAY: WATCH | LISTEN | LIVE STATS
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SUNDAY: WATCH | LISTEN | LIVE STATS

TULANE GAME NOTES

NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane baseball team (23-27, 8-13 American) returns to Greer Field at Turchin Stadium to host the last three home games of the 2026 season from May 8-10. The program will lock up with South Florida (29-18, 8-13 American) with game times scheduled for 6:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., and 1 p.m. The weekend will feature a pregame Graduation Ceremony on Saturday, May 9, and pregame presentation to honor the team's seniors on Sunday, May 10.

Promotions
Friday: Friday Night Bingo
Saturday: Beach Bash; Free Croakie for first 250 fans; Pre-Game Graduation Ceremony
Sunday: Senior Day for Trent Liolios, Brett Rowell, Jake Toporek, Tom Vincent, Tye Wood, Kaikea Harrison, Hugh Pinkney, J.D. Rodriguez, Trey Cehajic, Will Clements, Matthias Haas, Jacob Moore, Blaise Wilcenski, and James Agabedis; Riptide Kids Club Day; Collectible Baseball Card Giveaway & Post-Game Autographs from Caden Tarango, Julius Ejike-Charles, Hugh Pinkney, and Jack Johnson

Media
The games against South Florida will be broadcasted on ESPN+ on Friday - Sunday. 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. Airtime for the radio/stream for the games is 15 minutes before first pitch

Pitching Matchup
The Green Wave will start senior J.D. Rodriguez in the opening game. This is his 18th appearance and 11th game started although this is his second Friday start of the year as he had previously been the Sunday starter since the start of conference play before last weekend (six total starts). On the year, Rodriguez is 5-1 with a 4.97 ERA in a tied for team-high 50.2 innings worked. He is limiting opponents to a .275 batting average against.

The Bulls are expected to start sophomore righty Kaden Smith on Friday. Smith is making his 15th appearance and seventh start of the season. He has registered 39 strikeouts in 38.2 innings thrown while limiting opponents to a .238 batting average against.

The Tulane and South Florida Saturday and Sunday starters are to be determined depending on the results and relief pitcher usage through the first game of the series.

Scouting USF
The Bulls have lost six of the team's last seven games.

Jevin Relaford leads the offensive attack for USF with is .340 batting average, 32 runs, and 52 hits. He has also stolen 28 bases in 34 attempts.

Lance Trippel has 13 doubles and a tied for team-high 27 RBIs.

The Bulls have a balanced offense with 11 different players having reached double figures in RBIs.

Dominic Pontbriant leads the squad with is 2.75 ERA while sporting a 3-0 record.

Freshman Michael Senay has been the team's most consistent weekend starter. He is 6-3 with a 3.62 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 72 innings pitched. He has been named the American's Pitcher of the Week twice this season.

Edwin Alicea has five wins and 50 strikeouts in 61 innings thrown.

Ethan Sutton has totaled nine saves and 46 strikeouts in 37.1 innings out of the bullpen.

The Bulls lead the conference in ERA (4.41).

Mitch Hannahs coaches the program. Hannahs is in his second year with the Bulls. He has a record of 60-43 at USF and an overall mark of 415-257-1 in his 13 years as a collegiate head coach.

Series History
Tulane leads the all-time series with South Florida 43-33 since the first game of the series in 1992 (a 5-3 Tulane victory). Tulane was swept on the road in Tampa by the Bulls last season by scores of 3-0, 8-6, and 10-3 (3/28-30). The Green Wave took two-of-three against the Bulls during the 2024 season in New Orleans by scores of 11-5 and 14-4 in the first two games before dropping the final contest 9-8. South Florida hasn't won a series at Tulane since the 2001 campaign and are 17-19 all-time in New Orleans.

Long Streak Over, New One Underway
Jason Wachs saw his recent 10-game on-base streak come to an end against Southern Miss (4/28). The 10-game streak followed his earlier 60-game on-base streak that ended on Friday, April 10, against ECU after going 0-1 and only reaching base on a catcher's interference in the fourth inning. He did drive in a pair of runs though with a ground out and a sacrifice fly. The 60-game streak dated back to the end of last season. Wachs then promptly started a new streak and reached base in each of the next 10 games (4/11-4/26) before going 0-for-4 with an RBI against Southern Miss. He picked up a hit in the last game of the series against Charlotte and three hits in the midweek against LSU, so he has successfully been on base safely in 72 of his last 76 games played.

Who's Hot in the Last Five Games
Matthias Haas is hitting .467 with seven hits, a home run, and four RBIs.

Nate Johnson sports a .333 batting average with two runs, five hits, a double, and four walks.

Jason Wachs has driven in six runs on his four hits with a home run and a double.

Tanner Chun had scored four runs on his five hits with a ,294 batting average.

Sam Larson has appeared in two games with a start on the mound and is 1-0 in 4.1 innings with eight strikeouts.

Tom Vincent has pitched in three games with two strikeouts in three innings thrown

Trends
Dating back to the end of last season, 11 of the last 23 hits that James Agabedis has have gone for extra bases with seven home runs, three doubles, and a triple.

Agabedis also has four multi-hit games in his last 12 starts and 13 games. In that time, he has 15 hits, three doubles, a triple, two home runs, 11 RBIs, 26 total bases, and six walks.

Tanner Chun drew at least one walk in nine straight games (a total of 13 walks in that time) from March 15 – March 28. His nine-game walk streak was tied with Brady Hebert (April 2024) for the longest by a Tulane player the last eight seasons and tied for the longest by an American Conference player since Cincinnati's Josh Hegemann from March – April 2023.

Jason Wachs has reached base safely in 46 of the team's 50 games this season.

Nate Johnson is hitting .285 with four home runs and 28 RBIs in the games he starts this year.

Kaikea Harrison leads the team with 12 multiple run scored games.

Tulane sports an 18-11 record this year in games that Hugh Pinkney starts behind the plate.

Matthias Haas has started at four different positions this season with five games at first, nine games at third, 10 games in right field, and 19 games as the designated hitter.

Nate Johnson has started at three different spots on the infield with seven starts at first, 28 at second, and three at third. He also has batted in eight different spots in the starting lineup order (2nd - 9th).

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

Matthias Haas is the club leader with 13 two-out RBIs.

Trent Liolios is batting .800 (4-for-5) with the bases loaded.

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

Nolan Nawrocki leads the team with a pair of successful pinch hits. He is one of six players that has registered at least one successful pinch hit this season along with James Agabedis, Matthias Haas, Jack Johnson, Hugh Pinkney, and Brett Rowell. On the flip side, the team's pitching staff has limited opponents to 4-for-27 (.148) 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 109 in the first 50 games.

The Green Wave are second in the conference in sacrifice bunts (34) and walks (257). The program is fourth in stolen bases (69) and sacrifice flies (24) plus sixth in runs (308)

Tulane is fourth in hit by pitches (69) and sixth ERA (5.59). The team is third in double plays (40), fourth in fielding percentage (.975), and sixth in triples (7).

The program's pitching is averaging an impressive 8.7 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 9.75 per contest.

The program is fifth in the American in shutouts (1) and seventh in strikeout- to-walk ratio (1.74).

The Tulane pitching staff has recorded 15 games with double figure strikeout totals this season.

Of the 23 new players on the roster this season, 20 have already made their Tulane debuts following the first 49 games of the season. The only newbies that have not appeared in a game this season are OF Cole Berge, OF/3B Matthew Major, and RHP Owen Geiss.

Individual Conference Leaders
Tanner Chun is fifth in the American Conference in hit by pitches (14) and fourth in walks (38).

Jason Wachs leads in doubles (20) and ninth in walks (34).

Jack Frankel leads in complete games with one.

Sam Larson is second appearances (26) and is tied for seventh in saves (4).

Tom Vincent is eighth in saves (3).

Jude Abbadessa is third in appearances (25).

James Agabedis is second in sacrifice bunts (8).

Trent Liolios is sixth in sacrifice bunts (6)

Tye Wood is fourth in stolen bases (19) and seventh in doubles (14)

Conference-Only Standouts
In conference-only play, Jason Wachs is hitting .336 with 21 runs, 27 hits, 10 doubles, a triple, five home runs, 16 RBIs, 54 total bases, a slugging percentage of .675, and an on-base percentage of .439.

Trent Liolios is hitting .298 with 15 runs, 21 hits, eight doubles, 14 RBIs, 14 walks, and a slugging percentage of .451.

Matthias Haas is hitting .333 with 11 runs, 22 hits, five doubles, and 12 RBIs

Tye Wood sports a .280 batting average with 16 runs, 23 hits, five doubles, 13 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases.

J.D. Rodriguez is 2-1 in his 27.1 innings.

Sam Larson has three saves and 14 strikeouts in 11 innings worked.

Tom Vincent is 1-0 with 0.00 ERA with a save and three strikeouts in 5.0 innings worked.

Blaise Wilcenski is 2-1 with 3,15 ERA in seven games out of the bullpen and 20.0 innings.

Jack Brafa has thrown in eight games with nine strikeouts and a save in 9.2 innings pitched.

Notables from LSU Game- 5/5
The 13-6 loss on Tuesday (5/5) dropped Tulane to 7-20 when the opponent scores first.

The team is 7-19 in road and neutral site games on the campaign.

Tulane hasn't defeated LSU since the 2018 campaign and haven't beaten the Tigers in Baton Rouge since the 2016 season.

The game was the ninth game this year that Tulane has hit multiple home runs as a team.

Tulane's 11 hits was the 13th time the offense has recorded 10+ in a game this season.

Trey Cehajic's relief appearance was only the second time he has been used out of the bullpen this season.

The three hits for Jason Wachs was his 18th multi-hit performance of the season and his fifth three-hit game.

Johnny Elliott's multi-hit game was his second of the year.

Tye Wood has now reached base safely in his last 17 games

Tulane is 131-185 all-time against LSU and 237-376 against current schools in the SEC.

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 gets on the road for the final games and conference series of the season as the program takes on Rice (29-20, 11-10 American). The times for the series are 6:35 p.m., 6:35 p.m., and 1 p.m.

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