The Green Wave has won two games in a row as it heads into American Conference play.
For the first time in a long time, the Tulane Green Wave neither gave up nor earned any runs in the first inning of its latest game on the diamond.
Equally as noteworthy: for the first time this year, the Sluggerbirds held their opponent scoreless.
Tulane rolled to a 2-0 win over the Northwestern State Demons on Wednesday to claim its second victory in as many days. With the win, the Green Wave improved to 11-11 on the year heading into American Conference play. The Demons aren't exactly a "pushover" team either: Northwestern State is 13-8 on the year and entered the contest on a six-game winning streak.
J.D. Rodriguez earned the midweek start on the mound for the Green Wave, ultimately pitching 3.0 scoreless innings and allowed just two hits with three strikeouts. Jude Abbadessa was credited with his first win of the season following 4.0 innings of relief in which he allowed two hits and no runs while striking out a team-high four batters. As a whole, Tulane's pitching staff combined for 10 strikeouts, five hits and just two walks.
While the Green Wave's offense wasn't necessarily prolific either -- picking up just six hits -- it did enough late to get the job done. As the two teams entered the bottom of the seventh inning scoreless, Tulane found a way to bring a bit of magic to its home stadium.
After a quick strikeout, Trent Liolios drew a walk to put the go-ahead run on base. A single by Johnny Elliott put runners on first and second base, with Nolan Nawrocki entering the game to run for Liolios. James Agabedis drew the second walk of the inning to load the bases, and a ground ball by Matthias Haas was enough to bring home the first run of the game. Kaikea Harrison added a bit of insurance with a two-out double to put the home team ahead 2-0.
The Demons were able to get a bit of traffic on the bases in the top of the eighth inning, but Tom Vincent and Julius Ejike-Charles saw time on the mound and managed to escape the frame unscathed. Luispablo Navarro shut the door in the ninth inning.
The Green Wave has now regained some much-needed momentum, and it couldn't have come at a better time. American play starts on Friday, as Tulane will welcome the Memphis Tigers to Greer Field at Turchin Stadium for a three-game series. Friday's first pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. Game two is slated to begin Saturday at 6:30 p.m., while the series wraps up with a 1 p.m. start time on Sunday.