The Tulane baseball team lost to East Carolina University (ECU) in the second game of their three-game conference series on Saturday night, April 11, at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
The matchup saw Tulane rally from a four-run deficit in the seventh inning to tie the game, but ECU responded with three runs in the eighth and secured a 9-6 victory. The loss brings Tulane’s season record to 18-18 overall and 5-6 in American Athletic Conference play, while ECU improves to 22-13-1 overall and 7-4 in conference games.
Jacob Moore was charged with the loss for Tulane after allowing an unearned run during his inning on the mound. Jake Toporek started for Tulane and pitched four innings with five strikeouts, giving up two runs. Other pitchers contributing included Jude Abbadessa, LuisPablo Navarro, Sam Larson, and Julis Ejike-Charles. Offensively, Matthias Haas led Tulane with two hits and three RBIs. Jason Wachs had two hits and a walk while scoring once. Trent Liolios contributed two hits and an RBI.
ECU’s Joseph Webb earned the win by pitching out of trouble in the seventh inning. Sean Jenkins recorded his sixth save of the season after pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Ethan Norby started for ECU and struck out eleven batters over six-and-two-thirds innings while allowing five runs.
Tulane began strong by scoring twice in the second inning before ECU tied it up by the fourth. A grand slam from Michael Kalinich gave ECU a significant lead until Haas’ bases-loaded double helped tie things up again for Tulane late in the game. However, errors and timely hitting allowed ECU to pull ahead for good in their next at-bat.
The teams will meet again on Sunday afternoon for the rubber match of this series.
