The Green Wave had one of its worst all-around performances of the season, ultimately falling by a score of 12-0.
The margin for error just got a whole lot slimmer for the Tulane Green Wave.
The Sluggerbirds took a tough beating against the Rice Owls, falling 12-0 in seven innings of action. It's now going to be much tougher for the team to bounce back and make it to the American Conference Tournament.
J.D. Rodriguez fell to 5-3 on the year on the mound. The starting pitcher has had a tough stretch of games over the past few weeks, and Thursday's outing was no different: he gave up six runs -- though only five were earned -- on 10 hits with one strikeout across 3.1 innings pitched. Jake Toporek didn't find success in relief, giving up the other six runs on six hits. Only Jude Abbadessa managed to avoid giving up any runs in his lone inning pitched, but he did give up two more hits.
The Owls drove in the first run of the game on a bunt single that scored a runner from second base, and they would tack on three total runs in the first inning alone. Rice plated one more run in the third and four in the fourth to push out to an 8-0 lead. The final four runs of the night for the Owls came in the bottom of the fifth inning, and from there, it was smooth sailing for the home team.
Meanwhile, Tulane couldn't do much of anything to match Rice's strong showing at the plate. The Green Wave had just three hits in the contest and only drew two walks. On the flip side, Tye Wood was the lone strikeout victim on the night.
Nate Johnson went 2-for-3 at the dish, and Jason Wachs recorded the visiting squad's only other hit.
To say it has been a disappointing season would be an understatement, but there is still some hope for the Green Wave as it enters the final two games of the regular season. The Memphis Tigers took down the Charlotte 49ers by a score of 9-4 to take a 1-0 lead in that series: if the Tigers can manage a sweep, Tulane needs to muster just one more win to reach the tournament. Additionally, the Green Wave can still get in by winning the final two games of the weekend as long as either Memphis claims two of three games against Charlotte or if the South Florida Bulls sweep the Wichita State Shockers.
The boys from Uptown will look to bounce back against the Owls as the two teams face off in the second game of the weekend on Friday night. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. CT.
