The Green Wave has won its last two American Conference series, and it will look to keep the hot streak going as it visits Boca Raton to face the Owls.
It's been a solid stretch of games for the Tulane Green Wave on the diamond.
Tulane recently took down the Southeastern Louisiana Lions in midweek action -- games that the program has struggled with all season -- and is riding the highs of series wins over the Wichita State Shockers and East Carolina Pirates. These victories couldn't have come at a better time as the program enters the thick of American Conference action.
Could things finally be coming together for the program? A big upcoming weekend on the road against the Florida Atlantic Owls could indicate that one way or another.
The pitching staff has, for the most part, shown much improvement in recent outings. Trey Cehajic had a strong outing against East Carolina after weeks of struggles, while Jake Toporek has emerged as a solid Saturday guy. Only Sunday's starter remains uncertain at this point: J.D. Rodriguez has handled that position excellently, but understandably, the Green Wave doesn't want to officially name a starter until it has a clearer idea of how much of the bullpen has already been used throughout the weekend.
The Sluggerbirds have done well on offense as well, though the level of talent in the lineup has been evident all year. As it stands now, Jason Wachs leads all players with a batting average of .341, but five other student-athletes are above the .250 mark. Other players have started to step up more in recent weeks, and it seems like just about anyone who grabs a bat has a solid chance of making a big play.
As opposed to being "underdogs" the past few weeks, Tulane also seems to have a bit of an advantage against Florida Atlantic. The Owls are 17-19 overall, including 4-8 in conference play. Their lone conference series victory came this past weekend against the Memphis Tigers -- a team that has only won 12 total games on the year. Otherwise, FAU has picked up a single win each against the UTSA Roadrunners and the Rice Owls.
Of course, baseball is a funny game, and it's hard to consider anyone a true "underdog" given how many upsets there are in a given weekend. However, Tulane matches up well with Florida Atlantic, and there's a good chance that the series rolls in favor of the Wave.
The two programs will get the weekend started on Friday night, with first pitch set for 5:30 p.m. CT. Saturday's second game is slated to start at 3 p.m. CT, while the series wraps up on Sunday at 11 a.m. CT.