By Andrew Riedell
The Tulane Green Wave moved to 17-8 after dropping their midweek matchup vs the University of New Orleans 7-6 on Tuesday, in what felt like a weird back and forth game. The game could have went either way, but Tulane left the tying run 90 feet away at third base when the game ended.
They look to move past that, as they head to Tampa, FL to face off with the new-look USF Bulls, under first-year head coach Mitch Hannahs, the former Indiana State skipper who also brought in 24 new players with him. Let's jump right in and preview this matchup!
The pitching rotations for this weekend will most likely look like this:
Tulane: Luc Fladda on Friday, Trey Cehajic on Saturday, TBA on Sunday.
South Florida: Corey Braun on Friday, Brandon Keyster on Saturday, TBA on Sunday.
I would not be surprised to see Bryce Archie get the Saturday start for USF instead of Keyster. The two-way athlete has a 2.49 ERA with 21 strikeouts, and he has gone at least four innings in his last three outings. The USF pitching rotation has been streaky outside of Archie and Braun (2-2, 3.22 ERA, 42 strikeouts.) Some other key contributors they will most likely go to are Jorge DeCardenas and Landen Yorek. On the hitting side for the Bulls, Matt Rose and Marcus Brodil, two of the few USF returners, lead the way for them.
Although Tulane lost the midweek to UNO, I think Head Coach Jay Uhlman might have gotten some answers about his bullpen. Wes Burton, the Ole Miss transfer coming off Tommy John surgery which led him to miss his first year with Tulane, absolutely dominated for the Green Wave on Tuesday, going three innings and striking out seven.
In the eighth inning, Julius Ejike Charles followed that up with a great inning of work and in his five innings of work so far has yet to allow a run. The bullpen has been inconsistent for the Green Wave, as it seems like Uhlman and pitching coach Anthony Izzio have been trying to piece together and plug in guys here and there. But, I think they might have gotten some answers on Tuesday in Burton and Charles.
The Green Wave bats have been solid all year from a hand full of guys, such as Connor Rasmussen, Matthis Haas, and Michael Lombardi, but some of the other bats need to get going, such as Kaikea Harrison and Jackson Linn. I don't know if we could see Linn in the lineup this weekend, but when he is hot and hitting the ball, he can hit it hard and hit it far. Time is of the essence, and this Tulane lineup is going to need to wake up if they want to be considered in the top half of the AAC.
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