By Andrew Riedell
As I sat there Saturday night, in Turchin Stadium's press box as the second game of the Tulane/North Dakota State series went into a rain delay, I questioned to myself "Can Tulane really compete with East Carolina for a shot at the AAC regular season championship?" No, not a Cinderella run in the AAC Tournament, like Tulane has done the last two years. An actual shot of taking down the winner of five straight American regular season championships.
Tulane (11-4) wraps up a three-win week, which unfortunately saw them drop the finale to North Dakota State (2-13) on Sunday, their sole loss on the week. Although they won the series over NDSU, the Green Wave did not play their best baseball this weekend, as they trailed Friday but came back due to a walk-off single by Michael Lombardi.
It does not get any easier for the Green Wave this week, as they have a five-game week, including two midweek games, both at home versus Nicholls and Jackson State. My eyes, though, are looking ahead to the final non-conference series for the Wave, as they take on the Big East member Xavier Musketeers (7-9), who also will be playing a five-game week (LSU/Southeastern LA Tuesday and Wednesday). Xavier is coming off a 30-27 season which ended in the Big East tournament. I believe this is going to be a great test for both the Green Wave pitching staff and their hitters.
So far this season, Tulane has shown in nearly every game it is their veteran hitters who can lead this lineup through any kind of pitching pretty well. To date, Tulane has been led offensively mostly by Matthias Haas (.358 2 HR 15 RBIs) and Connor Rasmussen (.357 1 HR 15 RBIs). This team is not going to hit for crazy home run numbers, but they are going to use the gaps for doubles and triples to bring in a lot of runs.
On the pitching side, there are still some questions, and in my opinion, the reason this Tulane squad struggled last year was because of their pitching. On Fridays we have seen Luc Fladda start for the Green Wave, but he has been inconsistent so far, with an ERA close to 5 and opponents hitting .300 against him in the early going. The bright spot is that his strikeout-to-walk ratio has been great, 28 strikeouts to 2 walks this season. Fladda has shown signs of potential, but I think this weekend vs Xavier will be a true test for him.
A real surprise this year was Trey Cehajic being named a starter for the Wave, as he had four saves for them out of the bullpen. In his four starts this season, he has a 2.57 ERA in 21 innings. If he keeps it up, I wouldn't be shocked if sooner than later he gets shifted to the Friday night starter.
Tulane also seems to be figuring out their bullpen early on and will probably use their midweek games this week to narrow down who will join John Paul Sauer, Jacob Moore, Will Clements, and closer Michael Lombardi in the back end of their bullpen.
So does Tulane have what it takes to dethrone East Carolina off their AAC throne? If they can figure out their bullpen and pitching, I believe that Tulane can win the AAC and make a deep run in the postseason.
East Carolina brings in a young squad, something ECU Head Coach Cliff Godwin has not had in a few years. Meanwhile, Tulane is going to rely on a lot of veterans and transfers with significant D1 experience to lead this team.
Tulane takes on Wichita State March 21 to open up AAC play, but if you are a mid-major fan, I would be tuned in to the Xavier vs. Tulane series taking place this weekend at Turchin Stadium.
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