NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University baseball team (10-11) fell to Grand Canyon University (10-12-1) in a closely contested 8-7 ballgame on Saturday at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
The Green Wave came up just one hit short in their comeback bid as the defense and pitching struggled early in the game.
“Tough one for us today,” assistant coach Jay Uhlman said. “I thought they competed with great spirit, but I thought we were our own worst enemy today. Opportunity lost. Tomorrow is another opportunity to win a home series. Give our guys credit. They went out there and kept fighting. Defense and pitching always magnify things especially late in the game.”
GCU struck first for the second day in a row with four runs in the top of the first.
After head coach Travis Jewett was ejected in the middle of the first, Tulane responded immediately in the bottom of the inning thanks to a two-run home run from freshman Bennett Lee. The homer marked Lee’s third straight game with at least one extra-base hit.
GCU got two more runs in the top of the second to make it a 6-2 ballgame, but Tulane battled back again in the bottom of the frame. With runners on first and third with one out, freshman Chase Engelhard scored Jared Hart on an RBI groundout to trim GCU’s lead to 6-3.
Junior right-hander Donovan Benoit relieved lefty starter Jack Aldrich in the fourth and struck out six of the first eight batters he faced. He finished the day with eight strikeouts and only one run allowed over three innings of work.
Aldrich struck out four while allowing six runs, four earned, on five hits. He has not allowed a walk in his last 16 and two-thirds innings for the Green Wave and has 18 strikeouts in that span.
In the bottom of the fifth, Tulane put runners on the corners with no outs. Sophomore Collin Burns lifted a sacrifice fly to center to bring the Wave within two, 6-4. Earlier in the game, Burns extended his hitting streak to four games and has now collected a hit in 19 of Tulane’s 21 games.
GCU added another run in the top of the sixth, extending their lead to 7-4.
Senior Luis Aviles and Hart led off the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back singles. Junior Ethan Groff bunted the runners over before freshman Jacob LaPrairie singled into left, scoring Aviles. With the bases loaded and two outs, Lee was hit by a pitch, scoring LaPrairie to close the gap, 7-6.
In the bottom of the seventh, Groff laid down a safety squeeze bunt to score Aviles from third and tie the game at 7-7.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the eighth, junior reliever Justin Campbell got a huge strikeout to keep the game knotted up.
GCU scored in the top of the ninth on an RBI single from Davida Avita and Tulane was unable to respond in the bottom half.
Junior Pierson Ohl took the mound for GCU and allowed six runs on 10 hits in five and one-third innings of work.
“It’s always hard to lose a tough one like that when you lay it all out and it doesn’t go your way,” Lee said. “We have to keep going and give it everything we have, and the results will come. We will take the series tomorrow.”
Up Next
Game three of the series starts at 12:30 p.m. inside GFATS.
{Press release courtesy of Tulane Athletics}
