UNCW defeats Tulane; Seahawks to face LSU on Saturday night in NCAA’s

BATON ROUGE, LA (WWAY) — UNCW defeated Tulane 10-1 on the first day of the Baton Rouge Regional at the NCAA Baseball Tournament. The Seahawks will face the overall #2 tournament seed next. It’ll be LSU hosting UNCW in the winner’s bracket game of the Baton Rouge Regional at 9pm on Saturday night in the double elimination event.

Note: Former North Brunswick Scorpion Steven Linkous was 1 for 5 at the plate for UNCW on Friday with 1 RBI and 1 run scored.

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BATON ROUGE, LA (TULANE) — Tulane baseball scattered eight hits across nine innings in their first NCAA Regional contest since 2008, but the timely hits did not come, as the Green Wave fell to UNC Wilmington, 10-1, in a game that ended in the wee hours of Saturday morning at Alex Box Stadium.

Tulane (34-24) stumbled early against UNCW (40-16), and the Seahawks scored with their backs up against the wall at the plate throughout the evening , as all 10 runs by UNCW came with two outs on the board.

Things looked promising for the Green Wave at the start of the game, as sophomore shortstop Stephen Alemais tripled to lead off the action. However, he was caught in a rundown on a fielder’s choice that put senior Garrett Deschamp at second before Deschamp was left stranded on the basepaths to end the inning.

UNCW took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first after walking twice and posting two hits against Tulane starter Patrick Duester. After Tulane sophomore Richard Carthon was stuck at second to wrap up the top of the third after a bunt single, the Seahawks capitalized on seven hits and some defensive miscues to score seven two-out runs in the bottom of the fourth.

“It’s a ball game,” stated Tulane baseball head coach David Pierce. “We give up a run in the fourth, but if we just finish the strikeout then we’re out of it, but then we had a passed ball. Then they end up scoring six after that. I didn’t think we showed enough mental toughness in the rest of that inning. When that happens you are going to give up runs, and that’s what happened.”

Tulane did get on the board in the top of the fifth when sophomore Lex Kaplan doubled to score Alemais who reached on a single. But that was only one of two innings on the evening where Tulane posted multiple hits.

Duester (7-6) allowed seven runs on six hits while striking out five in 3.2 innings. The Green Wave used five other pitchers in the contest in junior Tim Yandel, redshirt freshman Sam Bjorngjeld, redshirt sophomore Eric Steel, redshirt junior Jordan Gross and junior Troy Ward.

The Green Wave were led at the dish by Kaplan, who posted the lone RBI on the night for Tulane, and Carthon and Alemais, who both went 2-for-4. Sophomore Hunter Williams singled for Tulane while junior Cameron Burns added a single in the top of the ninth. Pinch hitting junior Matt Braud also collected his first-career hit in the top of the ninth, as he laced a single to left center with one out off UNCW’s Ryan Foster.

Foster (7-1) went the distance for the Seahawks, striking out six and walking just one.

The Green Wave will play No. 4 seed Lehigh in an elimination game at 3pm CT at Alex Box Stadium on Saturday, May 30. The game will be broadcast on 88.3 FM WRBH, and ESPN3 will carry the game (click the `ESPN3′ link on the TulaneGreenWave.com baseball schedule page for the live stream). Tulane will start right-handed sophomore Corey Merrill (4-6, 2.04 ERA, 77 Ks) on the mound. Lehigh has yet to name a definitive starter.

Tulane’s ticket allotment for the Baton Rouge Regional is sold out. However, the general public can purchase tickets through LSU, beginning on Thursday, May 28 by clicking here.

Regional play runs through the weekend. Sixteen teams will qualify for best-of-three Super Regionals with eight teams moving on to the College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska, from June 13-24.

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