College Roundup: Green Wave, Bulldogs Roll

Tuesday was a landmark night for Tulane, for two reasons. A record 5,215 fans turned out at Turchin Stadium as the No. 20 Green Wave took on rival Louisiana State, and the team rewarded them with a 4-1 win, completing their first season-series sweep of LSU since 2007.

HOW THE TOP 25 FARED

(1) Florida: off

(2) Texas A&M: won, 7-3, vs. Texas-Arlington

(3) Mississippi State: won, 2-0, vs. (9) Mississippi

(4) Miami: off

(5) Florida State: off

(6) South Carolina: off

(7) Texas Christian: won, 2-0 (7 inn.), at Dallas Baptist

(8) Louisiana State: lost, 4-1, at (20) Tulane

(9) Mississippi: lost, 2-0, vs. (3) Mississippi State

(10) Louisville: off

(11) Vanderbilt: won, 8-5, vs. Austin Peay State

(12) North Carolina State: off

(13) Texas Tech: off

(14) Southern Mississippi: won, 7-2, vs. (23) Louisiana-Lafayette

(15) Rice: off

(16) Michigan: off

(17) UC Santa Barbara: won, 4-3, at Saint Mary’s

(18) Oregon State: off

(19) Coastal Carolina: off

(20) Tulane: won, 4-1, vs. (8) Louisiana State

(21) East Carolina: off

(22) Virginia: won, 8-4, at Old Dominion

(23) Louisiana-Lafayette: lost, 7-2, at (14) Southern Mississippi

(24) Minnesota: lost, 7-4, at North Dakota State

(25) Oklahoma State: lost, 7-6, at Arkansas

Tulane took an early lead with a run in the bottom of the second, then stretched things out with a pair of two-out runs in the fifth. After the first two hitters were retired, three straight Tulane hitters singled, capped by Jeremy Montalbano’s RBI hit to left. A subsequent error by LSU first baseman Greg Deichmann allowed another run to score to make it 3-0. Jake Willsey hit his second homer in as many games against LSU to provide Tulane’s final insurance run in the sixth. All of that was more than enough offense for righty J.P. France (7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO), who kept eighth-ranked LSU scoreless into the eighth.

“I think (Tuesday’s win) is huge, not only because it was LSU but the fans are getting behind us,” Tulane head coach David Pierce told tulanegreenwave.com. “They understand how hard our players are working. We beat a very good team. My hat goes off to Paul Mainieri and his team. I know they’ll do well the rest of the year. I’m just so proud of our guys. It was a great performance throughout the game.”

Speaking of rivalry games, No. 9 Mississippi and No. 3 Mississippi State squared off in a neutral site, non-conference game Tuesday night at Trustman Park in Pearl, Miss., home of the Double-A Mississippi Braves. This one set another ballpark attendance record as 8,542 fans of both teams packed in, but just like during the teams’ regular weekend series four weeks ago where MSU took two of three, it was the Bulldogs’ fans that went home happy following a 2-0 win.

MSU scored both its runs early, getting RBI singles by Reid Humphreys in the first and Nathaniel Lowe in the third. Their pitching took it from there, as Ryan Cyr worked the first four, and relievers Zac Houston and Jacob Billingsley took it the rest of the way. Ole Miss did have its chances, getting nine hits on the night and twice getting runners to third base. However, all nine of the Rebels’ hits were singles, and they went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. The shutout was the Bulldogs’ second straight in a midweek game after they blanked Louisiana-Monroe last Wednesday, and it was their sixth on the season overall.

In another matchup of ranked teams, No. 14 Southern Mississippi stayed hot with a 7-2 win against No. 23 Louisiana-Lafayette, snapping its five-game losing streak to the Ragin’ Cajuns in the process. After a quiet weekend against Rice’s tough pitching staff, the Southern Miss offense got rolling again Tuesday, hitting a pair of home runs and putting up its seven runs on 10 hits. First baseman Tim Lynch struck the biggest blow, smashing a three-run homer in the fifth that gave USM the lead for good.

Just a week ago, the Golden Eagles were looking to regain their confidence after losing a series to Alabama-Birmingham and then getting drilled 12-0 by Tulane last Tuesday. Suffice to say they’ve found it again after winning the Rice series to stake their claim to first place in Conference USA and now keeping it rolling against another potential regional host in ULL.

Texas Christian bounced back from its series loss to Oklahoma State with a 2-0 win against crosstown rival Dallas Baptist, reestablishing some momentum heading into this weekend’s crucial series against Big 12 conference leader Texas Tech. Evan Skoug hit a two-run homer in the top of the fourth, and that was all seventh-ranked TCU needed in a game that was cut short after seven innings due to bad weather. DBU came close to scoring a couple times, having a runner thrown out at the plate in the third and stranding two men on base in the seventh, but in all a trio of TCU pitchers, Rex Hill, Jared Janczak and Durbin Feltman, combined to limit DBU to just three hits.

On the flip side, No. 24 Minnesota, playing its first game as a ranked team since 2009, saw its momentum come to a surprising halt in a 7-4 loss at North Dakota State, snapping the Gophers’ five-game winning streak. The Gophers had beaten NDSU 10-0 a week ago in Minneapolis and jumped to an early 3-0 lead Tuesday, but this time the Bison stormed back with three runs in the second and three more in the third to take a lead they would hold the rest of the night. The Gophers didn’t help their own cause by making a season-high three errors. Minnesota, which holds a one-game lead on Michigan atop the Big Ten, stays on the road this weekend with a series at Illinois.