Tulane Baseball (37-17, 15-7) was ranked No. 11 coming into this past Saturday night’s matchup on May 21. The end of their regular season was an exciting road to a comeback, winning 15 of their last 19 games. They defeated LSU twice, who formerly were known as the better team in Louisiana, in regards to essentially every sport. Tulane defeated LSU by a score of 7-1 and 4-1 in each of their two matchups this season.
After a three-and-a-half-hour rain delay during the sixth inning of the game between Tulane and Houston, Tulane completed a brilliantly fought, rain-soaked game to push them to win the American Athletic Conference (AAC) regular-season championship. This is the first time Tulane Baseball has won a conference championship since 2005, and the first time a Tulane team from any sport has gained the top seed in the AAC specifically, as Tulane only joined the conference in 2014.
The final score of the game was 4-3, and Tulane left the stadium the victor in a hostile, Houston-run environment. At the start of the game, Tulane pulled ahead to a 3-0 lead after Hunter Williams and Jeremy Montalbano each hit home runs in the first inning (Williams’ was a two-run homer). In the next four-and-a-half innings, however, Houston managed to score two runs, and Tulane zero, shrinking their lead to only one run after the fifth inning. Then began the rain.
After the three-and-a-half hour delay, Houston fought back to tie the game at three a piece. Each of Houston’s three scores came on single-run home runs, scored in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. In the seventh, however, Tulane’s Jake Willsey hit the final home run that put them back on top of Houston and ultimately won the game for the Tulane Green Wave. This was only after J.P. France came in to relieve Alex Massey and put Houston out of the game.
Next up for Tulane is their first game of the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship in Clearwater, Florida. Because they are the top-seeded team, Tulane will play UCF, who is ranked No. 8, on Tuesday, May 24 at 7:00 p.m. ET. The Championship tournament begins on May 24 and culminates in the final championship game on Sunday, May 29 at noon ET. Tulane will attempt to continue riding their Green Wave into the tournament.
