HAMMOND, La. – Tulane scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning Wednesday, spoiling Southeastern Louisiana's earlier comeback in a 5-4 Green Wave win at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
The loss snaps Southeastern's four-game winning streak to open the season.
First baseman Hunter Williams led off the ninth with a single for Tulane (3-1). A pair of ground outs moved pinch runner John Gandolfo around to third base. Fighting off a two-strike pitch, left fielder Richard Carthon singled up the middle to tie the game. After a Hunter Hope single, Lex Kaplan doubled in Carthon with what proved to be the winning run.
Trailing 3-0, Southeastern (4-1) scored four runs with two outs in the seventh to take the lead.
Freshman catcher
Nico Cuccia singled through the right side to start the Lion rally. After reliever Jordan Gross issued back-to-back walks to
Brooks Morse and
Jacob Seward, the Green Wave brought in right-hander Eric Steel.
Lion right fielder
Kyle Cedotal greeted Steel with a triple into the left-center field gap, tying the game. He later scored on
Daniel Midyett's RBI single to left.
Southeastern struggled to score early in the game against Tulane starter Patrick Duester, but Lion southpaw Domenick Carlini was just as impressive. The junior from Nesbit, Mississippi, fanned 11 batters in 5 innings, leaving a runner on base and a 1-0 deficit when he exited the game.
The Green Wave would get to reliever
Kade Granier for a pair of runs in the sixth, the first of which was charged to Carlini.
Ian Gibaut (1-1), who worked out of a bases-loaded, no out jam in the eighth for Tulane, earned the win. Dan Rankin pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his first save of the season.
Pat Cashman (0-1) was charged with the loss, allowing a pair of runs in two innings of work.
Southeastern travels to Arlington, Texas, this weekend for the UTA Hilton Invitational. The Lions face host UT Arlington at 3 p.m. Friday, Houston Baptist at 11 a.m. Saturday and Michigan State at 11 a.m. Sunday.
Tulane 5, Southeastern La. 4 (Feb 18, 2015 at Hammond, La.)
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Tulane...................... 100 002 002 - 5 9 0 (3-1)
Southeastern La..... 000 000 400 - 4 12 1 (4-1)
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Pitchers: Tulane - Duester, Patrick; Gross, Jordan (6); Steel, Eric (7); Gibaut, Ian (8); Rankin, Dan (9) and Rogers, Jake. Southeastern La. - Carlini, Domenick; Granier, Kade (6); Cashman, Pat (8) and Cuccia, Nico.
Win-Gibaut, Ian (1-1) Save-Rankin, Dan (1) Loss-Cashman, Pat (0-1) T-3:10 A-906
HR TLN - Hope, Hunter (2).
Weather: 48 Clear, NW 4 mph
Carlini, D. faced 1 batter in the 6th.
Steel faced 1 batter in the 8th.
