By John Owens, Tulane Hullabaloo
UNO might be the worst team that Tulane will play this year. At 1-17 they are the Cleveland Cavaliers or Minnesota Timberwolves of Tulane's schedule; a team that could be easily overlooked in anticipation of coming opponents. In the first game of the series, Tulane showed no lack of concentration, handily defeating the Privateers nine to two. The ease by which they defeated UNO may have contributed to the seeming lack of concentration that they displayed Saturday in their victory, seven to four.
If Tulane played lackadaisically, then UNO was just the opposite, playing with a tenacity that kept them in the game even when they seemed out of it.
“Quite honestly, I thought UNO really played hard today. They played with some resolve and they played to win. And you know fortunately for us we made some really good defensive plays and had that second inning, that big inning that, but boy I’ll tell you UNO really came after us today,” Coach Jones said.
Tulane did most of their damage in the second inning, scoring five of their seven runs in that frame. However, in typical Tulane fashion, after the second, when leading six to zero, Tulane’s offensive fire quickly turned to offensive mire. Simply put, they put the game in cruise and kicked back. Seven runs is certainly a strong effort though, it just seems like they should be doing more against a team as poor as UNO. Even Junior Jeremy Schaffer, who drove in two, seems to think that Tulane should have played better.
“A lot of times the scoreboard doesn’t really dictate what happened during the game there were things that we felt we could have done a lot better throughout the course of the game,” Schaffer said.
Every part of the game was lacking for Tulane at times during the course of the game. The offense showed flashes of brilliance in the second, and defense made plays it had to. The same lacking feeling could be said for pitching as starter Sophomore Kyle McKenzie pitched well all game, with the exception of a three run fifth. Even his career-high eight strikeouts didn’t remove the burden of that inning, and his momentary lapse in concentration, from his shoulders.
“The issue with Kyle has been, and was today, a concentration issue. Two quick outs, he’s facing the nine-hitter, and he’s got a two-two pitch and instead of trying to get the out, it looked like to me he tried to get the strikeout and overthrew it. And then the next thing you know it’s two walks and until Kyle-it’s been an issue since he’s been here and it’s something that’s been addressed over and over again,” Coach Jones said.
McKenzie regrouped and threw a lights-out sixth, setting the table for Facundus and Pepitone to finish the ballgame. Tulane has taken the first two games of the series now, and is looking to sweep the Privateers on Sunday. It would mean a lot to the team to get a sweep, defeating a crosstown rival in the process.
“That would be huge. Going into every series (we are) trying to win the series. If you can win the first two games then Sundays so you can try to sweep. That is what we expect to do. We expected to do it before the series. We expect to do it today, and it would be big for our ball club to do it,” Junior Jeremy Schaffer said.
Photo Credit: Parker Waters
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