Tulane baseball coach Jay Uhlman said the key to Friday night’s series opener at Wichita State would be jumping to an early lead and continuing to apply pressure, sowing seeds of doubt in a team that had lost 11 of its previous 13 game.
The Green Wave followed his plan to a T. After Colin Tuft turned an 0-2 count into a leadoff walk, the Wave scored four runs on four hits in the first inning and never looked back, beating the Shockers 13-8 while moving into a three-way tie for third place in the bunched-up American Athletic Conference.
Tulane (22-18, 8-8) pulled even with Charlotte and Florida Atlantic—a game ahead of South Florida, Wichita State and Rice and two games in front of UAB and Memphis.
Taking advantage of a stiff breeze blowing out, the Wave hit four home runs. Gavin Schulz homered in back-to-back at-bats—first to right and then to left—in the fourth and sixth innings. Teo Banks launched a solo shot to straightaway center field in the third for his team-leading 11th long ball, and Brady Marget golfed one over the right field wall right before Schulz’ second.
The Wave pounded out 16 hits on seven pitchers.
“It was a really complete offensive effort,” Uhlman said. “We hit balls hard all over the park. We situationally hit well. For a good six-and-a-half innings, the wind was howling, but the homers weren’t cheapies. They hit them hard. It was all around a really good night for us.”
Tulane equaled its AAC-era high with its sixth conference game of double-digit runs, accomplishing it in 11 fewer games than in 2021. The Wave never went down in order. Tuft went to two-strike counts five times and reached base on all of them, with a walk, a single and two more walks before getting plunked by a pitch.
Marget, Schulz, Banks and James Agabedis had three hits. Agabedis, who had started only twice before this week, raised his hit total to seven in the past two games after going 4 on 4 on Tuesday against Southern Miss, earning a second consecutive start at third base.
“That recommendation came from (hitting coach Justin) Bridgman,” Uhlman said. “I had the mind to try to play more right-handers, but coming off the four-hit game, he recommended that we play him. I went with his instincts, and he rewarded that thinking.”
Wichita State bounced back with two runs in the bottom of the first, but after Luc Fladda coaxed an easy fly ball with two runners in scoring position, the Shockers never brought the tying run to the plate again.
Fladda (2-3) pitched well enough to win, giving up 10 hits and six runs in 5⅓ innings on a night when any fly ball hit well was going to clear the wall. Derek Williams and Kam Durnin blasted solo shots off him, but he limited the damage by issuing zero free passes after walking the first batter.
Tulane led 5-3 through three inning, 8-4 through four and 10-6 after six. When the Shockers pulled closer on Williams’ two-run homer off Henry Shuffler in the seventh, Shuffler retired the next three batters to preserve a 10-8 lead and the Wave got those runs back on two walks, a wild pitch, a single and Banks’ double off the left field wall in the eighth.
Banks, who was batting .180 at the end of March, is a torrid .383 in April.
“It was loud contact,” Uhlman said. “And he’s taking pitches in the dirt easily again. His confidence is starting to build, which is really great.”
Carter Benbrook entered to start the eighth and retired all five batters he faced, striking out the last four. Jonah Wachter replaced him to record the final out, getting a ground ball to Agabedis from Williams, who had been 4 of 4 with two homers, a double and a single.
“He (Wachter) struck out five his last outing, and we had (closer Jacob Moore) down there in case it got to that,” Uhlman said. “But we just tried to close it out with Jonah so we didn’t have to use any of our other pieces.”
Marget, who had two hits in seven of the previous eight games, went one better this time. His run-scoring single in the eighth off the outstretched glove of Durnin, the Shockers’ shortstop, gave him his first three-hit outing since opening weekend against Northwestern. He and Schulz finished with four RBIs.
Tulane will try to clinch the series victory on Saturday with Chandler Welch (5-1) opposing Wichita State ace Caden Favors (5-4). The start has been moved up an hour to 1 p.m. due to approaching bad weather.
If the game cannot be played, the teams will meet in a doubleheader on Sunday. The first game would be seven innings, with the second game a full nine. Since Tulane chartered its flight, Uhlman said it could leave later Sunday than originally planed, allowing time for the potential twin bill.