Weekend Preview: Baseball Opens C-USA Play at Louisiana Tech

RS JR Randy LeBlanc will make his second start of 2014 on Saturday afternoon at La. Tech

Confidence is up, injuries are down, and Tulane baseball looks to improve on its impeccable 4-0 start to the year starting 6:00 p.m. Friday in Ruston, La., where the Green Wave will take on its first road series - and first Conference USA match up - of the 2014 season. For the young Green Wave squad, the timing for this series, an important RPI weekend, could not be better.

Fresh off of a four-game sweep of Arkansas-Pine Bluff on opening weekend, the Green Wave has six starters hitting above .300 and hit .276 as a team on opening weekend. The line-up for Friday night looks similar to last weekend’s, as Jones will once again send five freshmen (Alemais, Hope, Kaplan, Rogers) to the field.

Freshman righty JP France will make his second start of his collegiate career on Friday night, hoping to build upon last week’s nine-strikeout outing. Randy LeBlanc will get the ball on Saturday afternoon, and Alex Massey, making his first start since May 13, 2012, gets the nod for Sunday.

Newcomers to C-USA, La. Tech came away from their season opening weekend against Southeastern Louisiana with a disappointing 1-2 record. Though two of the games went into extra innings, the Bulldogs only earned one win on the three game set and took a beating on Saturday afternoon, losing 15-6 to the visiting Lions.

In 2013, La. Tech finished 19-37 overall and 6-21 in the Western Athletic Conference.

Tulane is one of three teams in the league who remain undefeated and sits comfortably at No. 3 in C-USA behind FIU and UAB who are 5-0 on the year.

Without playing the mid-week contest with UNO originally scheduled for Tuesday night, Jones and his team were able to focus all efforts on the upcoming three game series in Ruston. The team even took extra measures to prepare for this away weekend, traveling across town to Delgado’s Kirsch Rooney Stadium to practice on grass instead of the turf infield at Turchin.  

Though Jones has not cleared sophomore closer Ian Gibaut to work out of the bull pen this weekend, the Green Wave still has a slew of young arms that haven’t yet seen action in the 2014 season. Gibaut is currently the only Tulane pitcher sidelined with an injury and is expected to make his return to the mound in the coming weeks.

Friday and Sunday’s games will be broadcast on Tulane’s flagship station, 88.3 FM. The game on Saturday will be available to All-Access members only.