The Green Wave is looking to bounce back from last week's walk-off loss to the Golden Eagles in Hattiesburg.
A big opportunity awaits for the Tulane Green Wave on the diamond.
The Sluggerbirds are set to host the 12th-ranked Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Tuesday night in its final home midweek contest of the season. The two teams faced off just one week ago in Hattiesburg, with USM claiming the 5-4 win in walk-off fashion.
Tulane has been on a bit of a downward spiral with five losses in its last seven contests, including a pair of series losses to the Florida Atlantic Owls and the UTSA Roadrunners. Though the Green Wave was able to grab victories in the Sunday matchups of both series, there hasn't been much momentum to go on.
Tuesday's midweek is big in plenty of ways. It's a great opportunity for the Sluggerbirds to pick up a massive win over a ranked opponent -- something that could propel the team through its final few weeks of the regular season. Additionally, it feels like there's some unfinished business for Tulane following last week's heartbreaking loss to the Golden Eagles.
Jude Abbadessa is slated to start on the mound for the home team. The graduate student is 2-2 on the year has been brought into games plenty of times this season, though it's been in limited quantities: he's made 23 appearances and pitched for a total of 29.1 innings. He has an earned run average of 6.44 and has given up 22 runs on 35 hits with 26 strikeouts and 26 batters walked. Abbadessa will also likely rely heavily on bullpen support -- something that has struggled at times throughout the year.
Offensively, the Green Wave is inconsistent at best. The team scored just five runs combined in the first and second games of the UTSA series but exploded for 12 runs in Sunday's third game.
Jason Wachs continues to lead the team by a long shot with a .350 batting average and a .478 on-base percentage. Additionally, he's the team-leader in hits (56), RBI (40), runs scored (42), doubles (19), home runs (6), total bases (95) and slugging percentage (.594). To say that the offense relies on him would be an understatement.
Tye Wood and Matthias Haas has come alive as of late, with each batting above .280 so far this season. Four other players are batting above .250 on the year, though some have struggled more than others to maintain success at the plate.
Tulane and Southern Miss will get midweek action started on Tuesday night, with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. CT from Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.