Can the Tulane Green Wave baseball team take what they learned in their series loss and bounce back against No. 3 Mississippi State?
Coming off of a weekend series against a tough, ranked TCU Horned Frogs program in Texas, the Tulane Green Wave is set to take on another ranked opponent on Tuesday night.
The Green Wave will travel to Biloxi, Mississippi, to take on the third-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs at Keesler Federal Park as part of the Hancock Whitney Classic. It's expected to be a packed house, as regional fans of both teams have the opportunity to watch a game at a minor league ballpark.
This is the second top-five matchup of the season for Tulane. The Green Wave took on the top-ranked UCLA Bruins in its first midweek matchup of the year, ultimately dropping the contest by a score of 13-5.
Since then, the Sluggerbirds have had their fair share of ups and downs. While a sweep of the Harvard Crimson and series wins against the Loyola Marymount Lions and Eastern Kentucky Colonels have been notable weekend wins this year, the team has struggled significantly in midweek contests. Its only midweek victory of the year was a 15-2 run-rule win over the South Alabama Jaguars, while losses to the New Orleans Privateers and Nicholls State Colonels have put a few early dents in the resume.
On the other hand, Mississippi State is 14-2 on the year, with it's only two losses coming by one run each to top-ranked UCLA and the fellow top-10 Southern Miss Golden Eagles. The Bulldogs are considered a favorite to win the SEC and boast a hard-hitting lineup all around.
One of Tulane's biggest struggles in its midweek contests has been a lack of consistent pitching. While this is normally how it goes in college baseball -- as most star pitchers are reserved completely for weekend play -- the gap between the Green Wave and its opponents on the mound shouldn't be as large as it feels. The program's midweek pitchers need to find a way to string together a few short but successful innings each; a top-five Power Four program will take advantage of every mistake.
Following Tuesday's contest, the program has one more non-conference series on deck against the Creighton Blue Jays, then a pair of midweek matchups against New Orleans and the Northwestern State Demons. The Green Wave will open American Conference play on the weekend of March 20th-22nd against the Memphis Tigers at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
Mississippi State and Tulane will take the field in Biloxi at 6:05 p.m. CT.