The Tulane baseball team (9-11) keeps the program’s season-long nine game homestand going with a pair of midweeks against in-state opponents this week on Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. The program locks up with the UNO Privateers (9-12) in the second and final game of the Pelican Cup on Tuesday, March 17. The team then welcomes the Northwestern State Demons (13-7) on Wednesday, March 18. The game times for both contests is 6:30 p.m.
Pitching Matchups
The Green Wave are slated to start junior righty Jack Brafa on Tuesday. Brafa is 1-0 on the season with a 4.76 ERA. This is his eighth appearance of the season and his third start. He has thrown 11.1 innings with 14 strikeouts. while limiting opponents to a .220 batting average. UNO is starting fellow righty Reid Leonard. Leonard is making his fifth start and fifth appearance on the year. He is 0-3 with 13 strikeouts in 15.2 innings. He is limiting opponents to a .274 batting average but has also walked 10 this season.
Neither Tulane nor Northwestern State have announced a probable starter for Wednesday as both have Tuesday midweek games.
Scouting UNO
UNO is off to a 9-12 start this season after splitting the two games against Mississippi Valley State (3/10-11) and falling in two of three games to the University of Incarnate Word in conference action over the weekend.
UNO has been led by Dylan Biddick. Biddick is hitting .380 with 12 runs, 27 hits, sevne doubles, two home runs, 10 RBIs and 17 walks in the first 20 games.
Evan Rogers is hitting .358 with 24 hits and 13 RBIs.
Owen Smith leads the club with his six home runs and 22 RBIs plus he is hitting .319.
Kruise Newman also has six home runs to go along with 17 RBIs
Rex Henderson is 1-0 with five strikeouts in 7.1 innings worked.
William Andrade leads the club with his 21 strikeouts in 20 innings worked.
The UNO pitching staff has limited opponents to a .282 batting average.
Last year, UNO went 28-26 with a mark of 12-17 in the Southland Conference. The Privateers won three games in the Southland Conference Tournament before being eliminated.
The program is under new leadership as Andrew Gipson is in his first year with the Privateers. Overall, this is his third year as collegiate head coach after working at Belhaven for the last two seasons. He is 68-44 in his head coaching career.
Pelican Cup
The Pelican Cup was brought back in 2018. After a two-year hiatus in 2020 and 2021, it returned again in 2022. The Privateers are the current holders of the cup after going 2-0 last season against Tulane and winning the first game of the season series in the first month of the season. The Privateers have captured the cup four times (2018, 2019, 2023, and 2025) while Tulane has been the winner of the cup twice (2022 and 2024).
Series History
This will be the 163rd all-time meeting between the crosstown rivals on the diamond in a series that started in 1971. Tulane leads the all-time series 87-75. The Green Wave dropped both games to the Privateers last season and also the first game this year by an 11-3 margin.
Scouting Northwestern State
The Demons are 13-7 overall this year with a 6-3 mark in the Southland Conference after taking all three from Texas A&M Corpus Christi over the weekend. Northwestern State has won six consecutive games coming into the week.
The program plays a road game against Southern on Tuesday before continuing on the road trip to play against Tulane on Wednesday.
Thomas Marsala leads the team with his .341 batting average. 20 hits, 19 runs, five home runs and 22 RBIs.
Brooks Leonard is hitting .338 with 26 hits, 15 runs, nine stolen bases, and 10 RBIs.
Joe Siervo sports a .329 batting average with 15 runs, 26 hits, three home runs, and 15 RBIs.
Brody Trosclair has been the team’s top pitcher with a 3-0 record, 0.45 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 20 innings worked over seven games.
Kevin Robinson sports a 0.86 ERA with 15 strikeouts in 21 innings thrown covering eight games.
Trent Hillen has struck out 34 in 26.2 innings.
Lucas Harrington is 2-0 with 10 strikeouts and two saves in 11.2 innings worked.
Chris Bertrand is in his third year in charge of the program. He is 70-61 all-time leading the Demons and 189-130 in his seven years as a Division I head coach.
Series History
Tulane is 20-4 all-time against Northwestern State since the start of the series in 1983 when the Green Wave earned an 11-5 victory. The two schools have only faced each other three times the last 13 years when a brief two-game series in New Orleans was split (W, 3-0 & L, 5-1) in 2013. Tulane also earned the 8-4 victory last season (4/2/25)
Against the Southland Conference
The home games against UNO and Northwestern State on back-to-back days are the second and third games of seven to be played against Southland Conference opponents this season for Tulane. The Green Wave lost to the Privateers earlier this season by an 11-3 score on the other side of the town. The program went 5-4 against Southland Conference (SLC) opponents last season. The school’s all-time mark is 308-167 against current schools in the SLC.
Coming In On A Streak
Jason Wachs, despite seeing his hitting streak snapped at 23 games following the opening game of the season against LMU, has still now reached base safely in 46 consecutive games dating back to the end of last season.
Who’s Hot in the Last Five Games
Hugh Pinkney is hitting .500 with six hits, a home run, and a double.
Tye Wood sports a .412 batting average with seven hits, two doubles, three RBIs, nine total bases, a .529 slugging percentage, three walks, and a .478 on-base percentage.
Tanner Chun is hitting .278 with four runs, five hits, two doubles, two RBIs, and six walks.
Jason Wachs has totaled four runs, five hits, and four walks.
Kaikea Harrison has four runs, five hits, a home run, and two RBIs.
Nate Johnson has recorded four RBIs and five walks.
Sam Larson has thrown in two games five strikeouts in 4.1 innings.
Jake Toporek has appeared in four games and has struck out eight in 6.2 innings on the mound, while limiting opponents to a .136 batting average against.
Trends
Dating back to the end of last season, three of last four hits that James Agabedis III has are home runs.
Jason Wachs has reached base safely in all 20 games this season
Johnny Elliott has reached base safely in his last nine games.
Nate Johnson is hitting .333 with three home runs abd 12 RBIs in games he starts this year.
Kaikea Harrison leads the team with seven multiple run scored games.
Tulane sports a 7-4 record this year in games that Hugh Pinkney starts behind the plate.
The program is also 3-0 in games that Matthias Haas starts as the designated hitter.
Haas has started at four different positions this season with five games at first, seven games at third, three games in right field and four games as the designated hitter.
Tye Wood leads the club with five two-out RBIs.
After leading the American Conference last season with 131 doubles as team, Tulane is again among the leaders this season and are currently second in two-baggers with 47 in the first 20 games.
The program’s pitching is averaging an impressive 9.8 strikeouts per game to place fourth in the American Conference. Tulane ranked second in the league in strikeouts a year ago with an average of 9.8 per contest.
The Tulane pitching staff has recorded nine games with double figure strikeout total.
Of the 23 new players on the roster this season, 19 have already made their Tulane debuts following the first 20 games of the season. The only newbies that haven’t appeared in a game yet this season are RHP Max Mazinter, OF Cole Berge, OF/3B Matthew Major, and RHP Owen Geiss.
Individual Conference Leaders
Tanner Chun leads the American Conference in hit by pitches (9) and walks (19). He is fourth in stolen bases (9) and sixth in doubles (7).
Jason Wachs ranks third in the conference in doubles (8) and ninth in RBIs (23).
Jack Frankel leads complete games with one.
J.D. Rodriguez is third in wins (3) and tied for sixth in appearances along with Sam Larson and Jake Toporek (9).
Jude Abbadessa leads in appearances (10).
Kaikea Harrison is ninth in the league in runs scored (23).
Tye Wood leads in sacrifice flies (4).
Tom Vincent is fourth n saves (2).
Trey Cehajic and Frankel are tied for the lead in starts (5).
Lombardi Selected for MLB Spring Breakout
Former Tulane pitcher Michael Lombardi was recently named to the Spring Breakout roster for the Kansas City Royals and will participate in the MLB Spring Breakout games this season, the organization announced.
The third annual MLB Spring Breakout is from March 19-22, 2026. The preseason spotlight showcases baseball’s future stars as clubs assemble their top prospects to play in an exhibition against one another. The event spans four days and includes a total of 16 games.
Lombardi and the Royals will take on the Texas Rangers on March 20 in Surprise, Arizona at Surprise Stadium starting at 3 p.m. CT in the Cactus League. The game can be watched live on Rangers Sports Net, Amazon MLB FAST Channel, MLB.com, MLB.TV, and the MLB app
Notables from the Creighton Series – 3/13-15
The 17 strikeouts recorded in the first game of the series by the Tulane pitching staff is tied for seventh-most in a single game in school history.
The extra inning game played on Friday was the first for the program since the team played 10 innings against Charlotte in the final game of the 2024 regular season (5/17/24). The 12 innings played was the most innings for the team since 2020 when the team played 13 innings against Cal State Fullerton (2/23/20)
Nolan Nawrocki’s home run in the first game was his first in a Tulane uniform
Bryson Ayala’s single in game one against the Bluejays was the second hit of his career.
The second game of the series marked the ninth time this season that Tulane’s pitching staff has reached double digits in strikeouts (10).
The 2-1 loss was the first for the program since losing back-to-back 2-1 games to Pepperdine last season (2/28 and 3/1/25).
The current five-game losing streak is the longest for the program since last season (3/25-4/1/25) when the team also lost five in a row.
The weekend series sweep by Creighton is the first time Tulane has been swept at home since the final conference series of the 2025 season to Charlotte (5/15-17/25). The non-conference sweep at home is the first for the program since losing all three games to UC Irvine during the 2024 campaign (2/23-25/24).
Tulane is now 28-18 all-time against the BIG EAST Conference and trails the series to Creighton 4-2.
Green Wave Chosen For Fourth and Has Two Named Preseason All-Conference
In a vote of the league’s coaches, Tulane was picked for fourth and had two players selected as American Preseason All-Conference. The Green Wave were chosen for fourth overall with 57 points. The team also saw outfielder Jason Wachs and designated hitter Matthias Haas chosen as Preseason American All-Conference.
The 2026 Schedule
The Green Wave hosts 27 games at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium, along with one neutral-site game in Mississippi and 28 road contests in 2026. Tulane will compete across seven states, including matchups in California, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, Kansas, Florida, and North Carolina. Notable opponents include seven teams that participated in the 2025 NCAA Tournament: Southern Miss (2 games), UTSA (3), Creighton (3), East Carolina (3), TCU (3), Mississippi State (1), UCLA (1), and LSU (1).
The 2026 Schedule – Part Two
Tulane is playing games against five teams this season that are ranked in the USA Today’s Preseason Coaches’ Poll in No. 1 LSU, No. 2 UCLA, No. 6 Mississippi State, No. 10 TCU, and No. 20 Southern Miss.
Uncommon Road Start
Tulane’s start on the road this season is the first for the program since 2023 and only the 11th time since 1979 the program has not started the season with games in New Orleans (1979, 1980, 1982, 1993, 2002, 2006, 2013, 2015, 2023, and 2026)
A Brotherly Connection
Tulane has a pair of brothers on the 2026 roster in sophomore infielder Nate Johnson and graduate student infielder Jake Johnson. The two are Tulane’s first set of brothers on a team since 2017 when twins Paul Gozzo, a catcher, and Sal Gozzo, an infielder, were playing for the Green Wave. The 2016 team also had brothers on the squad in Ross Massey, a left-handed pitcher, and Alex Massey, a right-handed pitcher.
Who is Back?
The Green Wave return 14 players from the 2025 squad that a made a run to the 2025 American Championship Game for the third straight season this season in James Agabedis (infielder), Kaikea Harrison (infielder), Matthias Haas (infielder/outfielder), Tanner Chun (outfielder), Julius Ejike-Charles (left-handed pitcher/outfielder), Jason Wachs (outfielder), Hugh Pinkney (catcher), J.D. Rodriguez (right-handed pitcher), Nate Johnson (infielder), Will Clements (right-handed pitcher), Michael Devenney (right-handed pitcher), Jacob Moore (right-handed pitcher), Blaise Wilcenski (right handed pitcher), and Trey Cehajic (right-handed pitcher)
Inside the Numbers of the Returners
The team’s 14 returning players accounted for 52.7 percent of the runs (204/387), 53 percent of the hits (287/541), 55 percent of the doubles (72/131), 58 percent of the triples (7/12), 45 percent of the home runs (23/51), 49 percent of the RBIs (178/360), 52 percent of the total bases (442/849) and 55 percent of the walks (159/287). On the mound, the club returns 48.4 percent of the wins (16/33), 53 percent of the game started (31/58), 43 percent of the innings (212/532) and 34 percent of the strikeouts (308/547).
Newcomers
Tulane added 23 new players to the roster this year. The list includes seven graduate students (Tye Wood, Brett Rowell, Trent Liolios, Jack Johnson, Jake Toporek, Tom Vincent and Aidan Rath), a senior (Nolan Nawrocki), seven juniors (Jude Abbadessa, Sam Larson, Caden Tarango, Jack Brafa, Beau Sampson, Owen Geiss, and Max Maxinter), four sophomores (AJ Groeneveld, Jack Frankel, Johnny Elliott, and LuisPablo Navarro) and four true freshmen (Bryson Ayala, Cole Berge, Evan Burg and Matthew Major).
The 2025 Season Quick Hitters
Tulane went 33-25 last season and had five American All-Conference selections on the year in Michael Lombardi (P – 1st), Connor Rasmussen (2B – 1st), Gavin Schulz (DH – 2nd), Jason Wachs (All-Freshman) and Tanner Chun (All-Freshman). The five selections are tied with the 2024 team for the most for the program since 2016 (seven).
The team also had three chosen for the league’s All-Tournament Team in Schulz, Tayler Montiel and Theo Bryant IV plus a pair on the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA) All-State Team in Lombardi and Rasmussen.
Additionally, the program had three players selected in the 2025 MLB Draft in Lombardi (Kansas City Royals – 2nd round), Montiel (Arizona Diamondbacks – 12th round), and Rasmussen (Kansas City Royals – 15th round).
2025 Fun Stat Facts
Jason Wachs was ninth in the conference in batting average (.335) and on-base percentage (.457). Wachs and Tanner Chun were tied for 10th in the league in triples (2). Matthias Haas ranked second in the conference in doubles (21) and 26th in batting average (.303). Kaikea Harrison was tied for the conference lead in sacrifice bunts (8) and 38th in batting average (.283). Trey Cehajic and Blaise Wilcenski were tied for 10th in the league in wins (5).
Up Next
Next, Tulane begins conference play against Memphis from March 20-22 on Green Field at Turchin Stadium. Game times are at 6:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., and 1 p.m.
READ MORE:VIDEO REPORT: Tulane continues homestand against in-state rivals UNO and Northwestern State
