NEW ORLEANS, La. - Freshman righthander Alex Byo pitched six innings of six-hit ball to lead Tulane University (9-6) to a 9-3 victory in the second game and a doubleheader sweep over Towson University (1-13) at Greer Field on Saturday afternoon. The Green Wave won the opener, 10-5.
In the nightcap, the Green Wave jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings against losing pitcher Austin Hurd. In the first inning, Nick Boullosa led off with a double down the rightfield line and scored on a single by Matt Ryan to give Tulane a 1-0 lead. With one out in the second inning, Brennan Middleton and Karl Mundt drew back-to-back walks. When Adam Zabel singled, the Green Wave owned a 2-0 advantage. Mundt came around to score on Boullosa's infield single and a throwing error by second baseman Chris Wychock. Ryan's infield grounder to second base drove in Zabel to make it a 4-0 lead.
In the third inning, a walk to Brandon Boudreaux led to another Tulane run. After Boudreaux advanced to third base on a single by Garrett Cannizaro, he gave the Green Wave a 5-0 lead when he scored on a sacrifice fly by Middleton.
The Tigers cut their deficit to 5-1 in the fourth inning. Sophomore leftfielder Ben Winter singled and went to second base on a wild pitch. He scored the Tigers' first run of the game when catcher Brian Wyman singled to leftfield.
In the fifth inning, the Green Wave extended its lead to 7-1 when Rob Segedin led off with a solo home run and Mundt drew a bases-loaded walk.
Trailing by 9-1 in the seventh inning, the Tigers scored two runs. Freshmen Mike Schmidt and Sean Adkins singled before senior Steve Yarsinsky lined a two-run double to right to make it 9-3.
Tulane outhit Towson in the nightcap by a 12-9 margin. Junior Austin Harclerode led the Tigers with two base hits.
In the opener, Tulane took advantage of junior righthander Charlie Cononie's control problems to take a 3-0 lead in the first inning. With two outs, Cononie walked Segedin on four pitches. Then, he issued consecutive walks to Jeremy Schaefer and Cannizaro to load the bases. When Boudreaux drew a bases loaded walk, Tulane owned a 1-0 lead. Ryan followed with a two-run single to right, giving Tulane a 3-0 lead. After Cononie walked Middleton, freshman righthander Michael Trionfo relieved Cononie and retired the side.
In the third inning, the Tigers trimmed their deficit to 3-1. Harclerode singled to centerfield to start the rally. Harclerode advanced to second base on a two-out single by Kevin Collins. Harclerode scored the Tigers' first run when Yarsinsky singled to right.
The Tigers tied the score in the fourth inning when Eric Weller and Cody Reeves drew back-to-back walks. They both moved into scoring position on a throwing error by Tulane's pitcher. When junior shortstop Nick Natoli lined a two-run single to center, the score was tied at 3-3. Preston Claiborne came in from the bullpen to pitch and worked his way out of the jam.
With the score tied at 3-3, Middleton and Mundt hit back-to-back singles to start the fourth inning for Tulane. After both runners moved into scoring position on sacrifice bunt, Middleton scored on an infield grounder by Brandon Crohan. An RBI single by Segedin gave the Green Wave a 5-3 lead.
In the sixth inning, an infield single by Middleton and Crohan's RBI double increased the lead to 6-3.
The Tigers cut their deficit to 6-4 in the seventh inning when Collins reached base on a bunt single, stole second base and scored on a pinch hit single by Winter.
In the eighth inning, the Tigers made it a 6-5 game as they loaded the bases with one out on walks to Weller and Kurt Wertz, Natoli reached base on an infield error. Junior righthander Nick Pepitone came in from the bullpen and gave up a run on Harclerode's infield grounder before striking out Wychock to end the inning.
With their lead cut to 6-5 in the eighth inning, the Green Wave put the game out of reach by scoring four runs. Crohan's RBI double made it a 7-5 lead. When Schaeffer added a two-run single, Tulane had a 9-5 advantage. Boudreaux's run-scoring single gave Tulane a 10-5 lead.
Both teams had ten hits in the opening game of the doubleheader. Harclerode and Collins each had two hits for the Tigers.
By losing both ends of the doubleheader, the Tigers extended their losing streak to 12 consecutive games.
Towson and Tulane close out their four-game weekend series with a single game on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. (EDT).
