University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
Tulane*
Tigers Overpowered by Green Wave, Fall 9-3
Mar 21, 2003 | Baseball
March 21, 2003
NEW ORLEANS, La. -- - Conference USA Pre-season Player of the Year Michael Aubrey showed just why he earned that honor, going 4-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI to lead Tulane (17-6, 2-2C-USA) to a 9-3 victory over Memphis (6-12, 1-3 C-USA) Friday in conference action. Kurt Welch, Kyle Scott and Ryan Martin each had two hits for the Tigers in the losing effort.
Centerfielder Johnny Kaplan got the Green Wave offense started leading the home half of the firstby lacing a double over centerfielder Kevin House's head. After advancing to third on a fly out by Tony Giarrantano, Aubrey belted the first of his two round-trippers, a two-run shot, over the right field wall to give Tulane a 2-0 advantage.
The Tigers answered Tulane's two-run inning with two runs of their own in the top of the second behind a leadoff single to center by Kurt Welch, followed by a Ryan Martin double down the leftfield line. Welch would score Memphis's first run of the evening on a groundball to short by Kyle Scott. Dlugach then drove Martin in with a single to left to tie the game at two.
Tulane regained the lead in the bottom of the second when Kaplan's double down the leftfield line scored Southard.
The Greenies then scored a run in the third and then Aubrey hit his second homer of the night, a solo blast to left center, in the fifth for a commanding 5-3 lead.
The Wave added another run in the seventh and capped the scoring with a three-run eighth after Southard doubled to left and then scored on a Wes Swackhamer single. Following a Kaplan walk and a balk by Tiger pitcher Daniel Adams, Giarrantano plated both with a single through the right side to cap the scoring at 9-3.
Freshman Matt Goebel (3-1) pitched six innings and allowed just two runs on six hits and five strikeouts to pick up the win for Tulane.
Bill Edwards fell to 1-3 on the season after giving up four runs on four hits, while striking out three in 2.0 innings of work.
The Tiger offense performed well, collecting nine hits off the Green Wave pitching staff. "We got behind early. Daniel (de Armas) did a nice job keeping us in the game and we had opportunities to score, but weren't able to," said Head coach Dave Anderson. "I thought we swung bats well, but Tulane got big hits early and late in the game. The game was a lot closer than the 9-3 final score."
Memphis returns to action on Sat. at 2 p.m. in the second of the three-game set with Tulane.
