NEW ORLEANS — Miguel Useche ripped a clutch RBI single and Matthew Maldonado shut the door for his first save as a Privateer in a 6-5 win for New Orleans over the Tulane Green Wave on Wednesday at Turchin Stadium.
Nolan Daniel picked up his first win as a Privateer. The loss went to Teo Banks in his first appearance on the mound this season for Tulane (1-8). Maldonado got three fly ball outs to put the finishing touches on the win.
Jackson Linn came up and delivered a huge two-run homer to center to tie the game up at 5-5. It was his third long ball of the season. However, Daniel came back and got the next three men in order to preserve the tie.
In the ninth, Issac Williams walked to lead off the frame. Kasten Furr tried to bunt him over but a strike thrown by Tulane catcher, Seth Beckstead erased the lead runner. Furr eventually got to second on a wild pitch and third on a ground out.
That’s when Useche dug in and lined a single into shallow right to score Furr and give the Privateers the lead. Maldonado took over from there to get the save in front of a crowd of 1,684.
New Orleans (4-4) out-hit Tulane 10-5 on the night and got the scoring started first. Jorge Tejeda doubled and Furr later brought him in to give the Privateers a 1-0 lead. Tulane responded with three in the bottom of the third to grab their first lead of the night.
It was short lived though as Jeissy De la Cruz homered for the second consecutive game to tie it at 3-3. The Privateers got a run in the fifth and another in the seventh on an Issac Williams solo homer to go up 5-3.
With one more win, the Privateers secure the Pelican Cup for 2023. They will play at Tulane on Mar. 29 and at Maestri Field on Apr. 18.
INSIDE THE BOX
Useche, De la Cruz, Williams and Tristan Moore all had two hits for the Privateers. Colton Mercer threw 2.2 scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Trey Usey pitched a scoreless frame in the seventh. Zeph Hoffpauir got a huge strikeout to strand three Green Wave runners in the sixth.
Brady Hebert had two hits and an RBI. The Green Wave pitching staff finished with 12 strikeouts on the night.
NEXT UP
The Privateers will open a three-game series against Brown on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Maestri Field.
*Courtesy UNO Sports Information