The Tulane baseball team lost to Rice by a score of 12-0 in the opening game of their road series on May 14 at Reckling Park. The defeat drops Tulane’s record to 25-29 overall and 10-15 in American Athletic Conference play, while Rice improves to 32-22 and 14-11 in conference.
This loss is significant as it marks the fifth consecutive time Tulane has dropped the first game of a conference series. The team’s performance when allowing opponents to score early continues to be a challenge, as they are now just 4-20 when giving up runs in the opening inning and 8-21 when the opposition scores first.
Pitcher J.D. Rodriguez allowed six runs on ten hits over three and one-third innings, recording his third straight loss. Jake Toporek gave up another six runs out of the bullpen, while Jude Abbadessa managed a scoreless sixth inning despite allowing two hits. Offensively, Tulane was limited to only three hits: Jason Wachs singled in the first inning, while Nate Johnson collected base hits in both the second and seventh innings. Kaikea Harrison and Matthias Haas each drew walks.
Rice scored early with three runs in the first inning following an error on a bunt single by JC Davis, an RBI hit from Paul Smith, and a sacrifice fly from Kutter-Gage Webb. The Owls continued building their lead throughout the game with additional runs driven by doubles, triples, sacrifice flies, singles, ground outs, and a home run from Smith.
The Green Wave has now allowed ten or more runs for the tenth time this season and suffered its second shutout of the year. Their record away from home fell further to seven wins against twenty losses at road or neutral sites this season.
Tulane will look for improvement as they face Rice again on Friday evening for game two of their series.
