By Andrew Riedell
Let's get right to it. Tulane gets swept by South Florida in Tampa and it was not pretty as it seemed like the Green Wave just could not play a complete game this weekend as it seemed like when the pitching was working the offense was not and vice versa. I know all you AAC and Green Wave fans are waiting to know if you think I am worried about the Green Wave after an 0-4 week last week. To put it simple... NO. Tulane did the same thing last year as well as they took two out of three from Rice to start off AAC play before getting swept by UTSA. Now let's jump into what went wrong.
Hitting:
I just said I am not worried about this Tulane team and one of the things that has been struggling the most is the lineup. Outside of Connor Rasmussen, Matthias Haas, Gavin Schulz, Jason Wachs, and Michael Lombardi this lineup has been so inconsistent. We see names like Nate Johnson and Jackson Linn come in and out of this lineup and I see the potential and we have seen the greatness that Jackson Linn has done while in a Tulane jersey but we need to see more from them and better disciplined at bats. Johnson and Linn have struck out a combined 38 times. When you look at veteran Gavin Schulz who has only struck out 12 times he has the time to get into a groove and to develop into the hitter he is today. I think Nate Johnson could be a sleeper for the second half of the season as he develops more and more.
Pitching:
Luc Fladda was good on Friday as he went 5 2/3 innings only surrendering 3 runs while striking out 4. Trey Cehajic followed that up by going 3 1/3 giving up 4 runs. The starters were ok not great but I think pitching will be solid like they've been all season. Will Clements and Tayler Montiel both had their first true bad outings of the season to let Saturday games get out of reach. Then on Sunday Tulane pitching walked 8 batters where we saw Tulane's bullpen just not do good. I believe that Fladda and Cehajic will continue to do solid but more pitchers need to step up outside of Michael Lombardi, Montiel, and Wilcenski to lead the pitching staff.
Can Tulane still win the AAC?
Yes. Jay Uhlman and his staff have done a great job of managing this ball club and have made all the right moves at the right times for the most part. I think Tulane gets a nice little advantage in their schedule as they host Rice, and UAB the next two weekends and I think this can get them on a nice little roll before they face some of the better AAC squads.
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