Tulane baseball looks to wrap up its non-conference schedule this weekend as it welcomes the Redbirds of Illinois State to Turchin Field for a three-game weekend set.
After taking two out of three games against Texas in Austin last weekend, the Green Wave then visited the Biloxi shore to stun Southern Miss in a midweek meeting. With three wins in their last four games, the Green Wave return home for the first time in a five-game stretch.
The team will attempt to fatten their “W” column taking on the Missouri Valley Conference Redbirds starting Friday.
The first 21 games of the 2016 season have been a mixed bag of successes and failures. The Green Wave have a 14-7 record with one series remaining prior to opening their conference schedule. The team has amassed the American Athletic Conference’s second highest RPI (46th, according to WarrenNolan.com) and are tied for the conference’s highest overall record with East Carolina.
Tulane is ranked 1st in the conference in walks, doubles, home runs, runs, shutouts, and slugging percentage while ranking 2nd in four team categories (scoring, batting average, hits, and on-base-percentage). Rubbing elbows with college baseball’s elite, the Green Wave rank among the top 10 percent of Division 1 squads in walks, home runs and shutouts.
All of these statistics combine to infer that Tulane is a very balanced and potent team. However, the storm that is the AAC conference portion of its schedule has yet to arrive. To date, Tulane has a 1-3 record against in-state competition with losses to Nicholls State, New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana; alongside a lone in-state victory against Louisiana-Lafayette.
Perhaps most confusing among those results is that — come season’s end — Lafayette might turn out to be the toughest of those four Louisiana teams. Outside of Louisiana, Tulane is 13-4 with series wins over Illinois, Pepperdine, Furman and Texas. The team has looked good against some big name programs and have fared well against stiff RPI competition (2-1 in RPI Top 50 games).
The team now needs to hold serve as it hosts an Illinois State team that owns an RPI of 295 and ranks no higher than 124th in any team statistic, save for doubles (59th with 41) and home runs (72nd with 15).
Tulane is a team that has not lived up to expectations in over a decade. Namely, the Greenies have not accomplished the following accolades in a 10-year span: won more than 43 games overall, won more than 15 games in conference play or won a regional since 2005’s College World Series team.
#ICYMI, #Tulane picked up a huge win over Southern Miss on Tues. Next up, Illinois State at #GFATS on Fri #RollWave pic.twitter.com/ZQwcnKKExs
— Tulane Baseball (@GreenWaveBSB) March 23, 2016
Last year, the team received its first NCAA Regional invite in six years under first-year coach David Pierce. After finishing 2015 with a middling 13-11 conference record, the team is now prepared to settle its feet in its second year as AAC affiliates.
This year, the Green Wave appear to be an AAC title contender heading into conference play. If the team is able to take the series against the Redbirds this weekend, they will be rewarded with their stiffest week of competition to date.
Starting next Wednesday, the team will take on their chief in-state rival, LSU. Three days after that, the Green Wave will take on Connecticut in Storrs for a weekend series against a conference opponent (albeit a 9-10 conference opponent) holding an RPI ranking (54th) comparable to their own.
More than anything else, Tulane needs to establish some normalcy prior to conference play with its series this coming weekend. That way, the team can begin to focus on its most important goal of 2016: winning the division crown and returning to the NCAA Division 1 postseason.
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