STARKVILLE, Miss. — The Green Wave baseball team returns to action on Friday, as it travels to Starkville, Mississippi to take on No. 5-ranked Mississippi State in a three-game series.
TULANE HEADS TO STARKVILLE FOR FIRST ROAD TRIP
• The Green Wave baseball team returns to action on Friday, as it travels to Starkville, Mississippi to take on No. 5-ranked Mississippi State in a three-game series.
• The first pitch of the series is set for 4 p.m. on Friday. Game two will begin at 2 p.m Saturday. The final game of the series will begin Sunday at 1 p.m. All three games will be aired live on SEC Network +. The series can also be heard live on WRBH 88.3 FM.
• The Green Wave will look to continue their momentum from Tuesday night’s 7-1 victory over crosstown rival University of New Orleans.
PARTY LIKE ITS 1998
• Tulane’s matchup with Mississippi State will mark the first time that the two teams have meet since 1998.
• Mississippi State holds a 74-31 series advantage against Tulane in the all-time series.
• Tulane’s last win over Mississippi State came back in 1996. The Green Wave posted a 10-3 victory over the Bulldogs.
• This will be the first three-game series between the two teams since the 1966 campaign.
• The two teams met regularly when the Green Wave competed in the SEC from 1938 to 1966.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
• Mississippi State opened the season with a pair of wins over ranked teams for the first time since the 1993 Winn-Dixie Classic in New Orleans when it topped No. 9 Texas in the season opener and No. 3 Texas Tech in the tournament finale at the State Farm College Baseball Classic.
• The Mississippi State pitching staff struck out 41 batters on the weekend.
• The Bulldogs enter the weekend series with the Green Wave after they picked up a 7-3 win over Jackson State on Wednesday.
• As a team, MSU is batting .287. Sophomore Luke Hancock leads the Bulldogs with a .467 batting average.
• The Bulldogs pitching staff owns an earned run average of 3.00.
• Prior to the season, Mississippi State was picked to finish second in the SEC West Division.
LAST TIME OUT
• Tulane snapped its four-game skid to its crosstown rivals from the University of New Orleans, defeating the Privateers 7-1.
• Jared Hart and Collin Burns combined for five hits, four RBIs, and three runs scored to lead the Green Wave to a decisive win.
• Redshirt sophomore Tyler Hoffman got his first career start for the Green Wave and tossed four shutout innings, striking out seven and allowing only two hits.
WORKING OVERTIME
• The Tulane baseball team got its money’s worth at the diamond during opening weekend, as it began its 114th baseball season.
• In all three games with in-state rival Louisiana-Lafayette, nine innings weren’t enough to decide the outcome.
• Games one and two both went 10 innings with the series finale going 12 frames.
• During the first weekend of Division I collegiate baseball, 20 games went into extra frames.
• Tulane and Louisiana-Lafayette were the ONLY teams in Division I to see all three of its opening weekend games go into extra frames.
STARTING STRONG
• Tulane freshman second baseman Chase Engelhard made his presence felt in the opening weekend of the year against Louisiana-Lafayette, as he batted .455, going 5-for-11 at the plate.
• The Atlanta, Georgia native posted an eye-popping 1.182 slugging percentage, collected three doubles, one triple and one home run. He also drove in three RBI.
A 20 SPOT
• In the series finale against Louisiana-Lafayette on Feb. 21, Tulane posted a season-high 20 hits.
A THREE-HEADED MONSTER
• The Tulane baseball team returns all three players from its 2020 rotation for this season in the form of Braden Olthoff, Jack Aldrich and Donovan Benoit.
• The Green Wave trio combined for an 8-0 win-loss record, posted a 1.89 earned run average, logged 66.2 innings, struck out 83 and held opponents to a .181 batting average.
ESPN+ THE HOME FOR TULANE BASEBALL
• Tulane University baseball games will be more accessible than ever, as the program announced today that all 33 home games will be aired exclusively on ESPN+ for the 2021 campaign.
• Televised Tulane baseball road games will be announced on a weekly basis. Fans should check back on TulaneGreenWave.com for the latest broadcast information.
TULANE LOOKS TO BUILD OFF STRONG 2020 START
• The Green Wave will look to build off of their momentum from the 2020 campaign.
• Tulane finished the year with a 15-2 mark, which matched its best start to a season since 1972.
• The Green Wave closed the year on a nine-game winning streak – the program’s longest since 2010.
• Tulane also posted an incredible 11-1 record at home.
LEADING THE WAY
• The Green Wave led the American Athletic Conference in 11 team statistical categories in 2020.
TULANE RANKED AMONG THE FAB 50
· The Green Wave enters the 2021 season ranked among the Fab 50 by Collegiate Baseball.
· Tulane checked in ranked No. 43.
· The Green Wave were one of five teams ranked in the Fab 50 from the American Athletic Conference.
GREEN WAVE FEATURES A 56-GAME SCHEDULE
· The Tulane baseball team’s 2021 schedule features 10 non-conference games against teams from the state of the Louisiana, including matchups with Louisiana-Lafayette, New Orleans, Southeastern, Southern, Louisiana Tech and LSU.
· The Green Wave’s upcoming slate also features 32 games against American Athletic Conference opponents.
· Tulane will face four opponents that are ranked in the preseason Top 25 this fall.
BRINGING HOME THE PRESEASON HARDWARE
· Following a 2020 campaign where right-handed pitcher Braden Olthoff posted a 4-0 record in just four starts while recording a microscopic 0.32 earned run average with 47 strikeouts across 28 innings of work, folks across the country are starting to take notice.
· Prior to the 2021 campaign, Olthoff was recognized as the American Athletic Conference Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
· Olthoff has also earned preseason All-America honors from Perfect Game, Collegiate Baseball and D1Baseball.
MINDER EARNS PRESEASON NOD FROM THE AAC
· Redshirt junior Trevor Minder was named to the preseason all-league team this past December.
· Minder earned the preseason all-conference nod following a 2020 campaign where he finished the year with .359 batting average, three home runs and 14 RBI. In addition, the Springfield, Illinois, native posted 23 hits, five doubles and scored a team-best 20 runs.
· Minder also led The American in runs scored.
RANKED WAVE
· The Green Wave finished the 2020 campaign ranked No. 20 in the D1Baseball.com Top 25 poll.
· Tulane also earned national rankings in the NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball National Polls.
FIVE YEARS WITH JEWETT
• Tulane baseball head coach Travis Jewett begins his fifth season in Uptown this spring.
• Jewett owns a career record of 101-94.
• In each of Jewett’s first three seasons at Tulane, the Green Wave have steadily improved in batting average, hits, runs, home runs, RBI and slugging percentage.
JEWETT WELCOMES 20 NEW PLAYERS
• Earlier this fall, Travis Jewett announced the addition of 20 members of the 2020 recruiting class.
• The 2020 class marks the fifth under Jewett.
• Joining the Green Wave for the 2021 season will be: Aaron Ball, Matthew Bihm, Walker Burchfield, Andres Castro, Zach DeVito, Chase Engelhard, Jared Hart, Tyler Hoffman, Brandon Howell, Keaton Knueppel, Jacob LaPrairie, Bennett Lee, Blake Mahmood, Jake McDonald, Kennedy Norton, Camryn Szynski, Lane Thomas, Turner Thompson, Brian Valigosky and Charlie Yanoshik.
GETTING IT DONE IN THE CLASSROOM
• This past fall, Tulane baseball continued to excel at a high level in the classroom, as 36 players earned their way onto the 3.0 club.
• As a team, Tulane posted a fall semester GPA of 3.367.
• Prior to the fall semester, the Tulane baseball team received the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Excellence Award for the fourth year in a row.
• The Green Wave are one of just 22 NCAA Division I baseball programs who have received the award in four consecutive years and one of just four American Athletic Conference programs along with Cincinnati, East Carolina and Memphis to earn the recognition.
• Tulane has posted a team GPA of 3.0 or better in nine straight semesters.
{Courtesy: Press Release from Tulane Athletics}
