The Green Wave found plenty of success in its combination of starting pitchers against Loyola Marymount, so it's not much of a surprise that the team is going to stick with what works heading into its home-opener.
Why stray from what's worked so far?
That's an ideology that the Tulane Green Wave will be following on the baseball diamond this weekend, as the team welcomes the Harvard Crimson to the Big Easy for the first home series of the season. As excitement builds in Uptown, fans are already getting a taste of what they can expect to see on the field -- and, to no surprise, it's the same thing they saw in last weekend's series win against the Loyola Marymount Lions.
The Green Wave will run its same Opening Weekend starting pitching rotation out through the upcoming three-game stretch at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
As it stands now, Trey Cehajic will remain the Friday night guy for Tulane. The graduate student has proven himself to be a standout leader so far in his third year with the program, and he's earned the chance to compete on the mound.
Cehajic helped guide his team to a season-opening victory over the Lions on Friday. Though he wasn't officially credited with the win, the right-handed pitcher put together a strong start for the Green Wave. In 3.1 innings, Cehajic gave up just two hits and three earned runs, including one home run, while recording five strikeouts. However, he did struggle heavily with ball control at times, finishing the night with five walks, one hit batter and one wild pitch. He still has a few weeks to improve in that area ahead of American Conference action.
Left-handed pitcher Beau Sampson has once again earned the nod to start in Saturday afternoon's contest, and for good reason. In his first appearance for Tulane, the Oklahoma Sooners transfer tallied nine total strikeouts while giving up just three hits, two earned runs and one walk in 4.1 innings of action.
Despite his best efforts, the Green Wave did ultimately drop the contest, though that's undoubtedly not on Sampson. He'll look to put together a similar start against the Crimson on in the second game of the series, and perhaps receive a bit more help from the bullpen.
Jack Frankel, who pitched four innings as a starter in Sunday's rubber-match win over LMU, will run it back this weekend. He demonstrated better-than-average command and velocity in the win, despite not necessarily being the flashiest pitcher to take the mound. The Liberty Flames transfer allowed just one run and two hits on the day while striking out five batters and walking two.
The sophomore also didn't let his age define him, as he competed well with veteran players who have more than double the number of seasons as he has. So far, he's shaping up to be a valuable Sunday pitcher who can roll out some series-deciding victories throughout the year.
Tulane will take the field at Turchin Stadium for the first time this season on Friday night. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. CT.