WGNO

Teo Banks’ walk-off home run secures first AAC series win for Tulane

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Saturday night, Tulane entered the 9th inning with a 1-0 lead but would see Memphis plate three runs in the top of the frame to steal a 3-1 win over the Green Wave.

Today, a similar situation would unfold.


Memphis would score the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th inning to take a 5-4 lead, pinning Tulane’s back against the wall.

With two outs and one runner on in the bottom of the inning, Teo Banks would answer with a two-run walk-off home run to give the Green Wave their first series win in conference play.

Banks game-winner traveled 409 feet, over the wall in left-center field.

Tulane comes away with the 6-5 win over Memphis to improve to 2-1 in American Athletic Conference standings.

“You know, I printed out everyone’s 0-0 standings. Overalls were 0-0’s. I had our SID Samantha (Larson) Photoshop stats with all 0-0’s – bunch of zeros. So, you know, certainly, it’s, um. It’s only as good as what the players believe in, you know? But I think just kind of the metaphor for like, okay, this really is a fresh start, you know? And we’re 2-1 since the fresh start. So we’re going to choose to not look in the rearview mirror and be forward-thinking,” says Tulane head baseball coach Jay Uhlman.

GAME NOTES:

Ricky Castro started on the mound for Tulane, striking out 7 in 7 innings of work while giving up 8 hits and 4 earned runs. Brian Valigosky comes away the winning pitcher, closing out Memphis in the top of the 11th.

Teo Banks would finish the day 1 for 3 at the plate with a team-high 4 RBIs.

Tulane would score 6 runs on 8 hits and finish with 1 error while Memphis plated 5 on the day with 13 hits. The Tigers stranded 8 runners on base.

Tulane sits at 8-20 overall with Sunday’s win.

NEXT:

Tulane travels to Lafayette Tuesday night for a matchup with the Ragin Cajuns. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.