Wave believes it’s headed in right direction
June 6, 2008
Wave believes it’s headed in right direction- NOLA.com
Year’s experience could help to avoid future rough patches
Friday, June 06, 2008
By Nakia HoganAt some point during the Tulane baseball team’s charter bus ride west on Interstate 10, the sting of being eliminated from the NCAA Tallahassee Regional eased.
A day after the Green Wave’s 16-7 loss to Florida State on Monday night, the future looked as bright as any day since Hurricane Katrina wrecked their facilities and damaged their recruiting classes.
“Everybody really came together on the bus, and we had some great conversation about how we came together and how we could get better,” sophomore shortstop Josh Prince said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who got experience this year, a lot of guys who hadn’t really played in the postseason coming back. I think we are going to be really good next year.”
Prince’s optimism stems from Tulane’s late-season march into the regional finals and the number of players the Green Wave will return.
On its way to ending a one-year NCAA regional hiatus, the Green Wave (39-22-1) finished third in the Conference USA regular season.
But reaching such heights wasn’t easy for the Green Wave, which opened the season with a bevy on newcomers counted on to jell quickly and play major roles.
Five of the regulars in the Tulane lineup — first baseman Sam Honeck, third baseman Rob Segedin, right fielder Drew Allain, designated hitter Andrew Rodgers and Prince — and four of its top pitchers — Matt Petiton, Nick Pepitone, Robby Broach and Mason Griffin — were either freshmen or transfers in their first year at Tulane.
“We meshed pretty well,” Tulane Coach Rick Jones said. “I sort of judge at the end of the year whether we got everything out of a team or not, and I felt like we probably maximized this one as close as we can, knowing all those external things that go with that.
“I’m proud of the club. After all of the individual meetings, I can see a real positive feel of accomplishment even though we didn’t get into the super regional, which is a disappointment. But I think it’s something that we will build on.”
It also doesn’t hurt the Green Wave’s cause that it could return (pending the outcome of the MLB draft) every starting position player and nearly its entire pitching staff — minus staff ace Shooter Hunt, who was selected with the 31st overall pick by the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.
There is a chance Tulane could also lose reserve
outfielders Warren McFadden and Aja Barto and utility player
Anthony Scelfo to the draft, which concludes today.But Tulane’s prized recruiting class, which Jones
called “the best we’ve had” could offset
those losses. That is, if to the draft doesn’t snatch
away many of this heralded class as well.Among the players the Green Wave signed in November were
left-hander T.J. House (Picayune, Miss.), right-hander Ross
Seaton (Houston), outfielder J.P. Ramirez (New Braunfels,
Texas) and infielder Carson Blair (Argyle, Texas). Seaton,
though, was drafted 109th overall by the Houston Astros.
Even with a talented roster, the Green Wave will have to
avoid the pitfalls of this past season, which was plagued by
inconsistencies before putting together a strong showing in
the Tallahassee Regional.Tulane ended the regular season and C-USA Tournament by
losing five of six games, then surprised many by winning its
first two games in the regional, against Florida and
Bucknell.“Some days I didn’t know whether or not this
team was focused enough or mature enough or talented or
committed enough,” Jones said. “But now
they’ve become one of my favorite teams, if not my
favorite team because they had to live up to expectations of
teams that went before them and because of the new stadium
and being under the microscope a little bit more.“They didn’t hear a lot of positives during the
year because we were (up and down). But I think they
responded, and they won my respect.”
Comments
Got something to say?
