The Green Wave saw one of its best pitching performances in a while, and the offense came alive early to power the home team over an in-state foe.
The Tulane Green Wave made its way back into the win column with a 6-2 midweek victory over the Nicholls State Colonels on Tuesday night.
The Sluggerbirds improved their record on the year to 15-15 and avenged an early-March loss against the Colonels. They also rebounded well after being swept by the UAB Blazers in American Conference play over the weekend.
Luispablo Navarro earned the win on the mound and now sits at 1-1 on the year. The starting pitcher dealt for 3.0 innings, giving up no runs, hits or walks and striking out five batters in his best performance of the season so far. He was flanked by strong showings from relievers Julius Ejike-Charles, Tom Vincent and Beau Sampson. The staff combined for 12 strikeouts and gave up just three hits, two walks and two runs -- one of which was unearned. It marked one of the best overall outings on the mound for the team in quite some time.
The Green Wave wasted no time in getting the bats going, likely motivated by such a dominant pitching performance. Kaikea Harrison started the first inning with a leadoff double, and he'd come around to score the first run of the game on a sacrifice bunt by Trent Liolios.
Tulane continued to put crooked numbers on the scoreboard in the second inning. Tye Wood slapped a one-out single to third base and managed to steal second just moments later. That would end up being huge, as he'd make it all the way home on a groundout by James Agabedis to push the score to 2-0.
It was a bit of rinse and repeat from there, with Tanner Chun drawing a two-out walk and stealing second. Harrison's second hit of the night, a single to left-center field, brought Chun home for the third run. Agabedis homered in the bottom of the fourth inning to give the home team a 4-0 advantage.
Nicholls was still far from out, and the Sluggerbirds had to dig deep to prevent a big rally by the visiting squad in the fifth inning. The Colonels put two on thanks to a walk and a fielding error, and both runs would come home later in the frame to cut Tulane's lead to 4-2.
After a tense few frames, the Green Wave added some insurance runs in the seventh inning -- and it would end up being the final runs either team would score. Two hits and a walk would load the bases with just one out, and Liolios drove a pair across the dish with an RBI single to give his team a 6-2 lead.
Sampson slammed the door on the contest, striking out the side in the eighth and giving up just one walk in the ninth to limit any threat by Nicholls.
Harrison led Tulane offensively, going 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored and one RBI, while Liolios had three RBI and Agabedis had two. The lineup also drew nine walks against Colonels pitching: Jason Wachs led the way with three walks, while Chun and Wood each drew two.
The Sluggerbirds have another short week, as they'll get their next American Conference series done before the Easter holiday. Tulane will hit the road to take on the Wichita State Shockers beginning on Thursday at 6:05 p.m. Friday's game is scheduled to start at that same time, while Saturday's is slated to begin at 1:05 p.m.