Hunt could start for Wave in regional final
June 2, 2008
Hunt could start for Wave in regional final - Tulane Beat - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com
Posted by By Nakia Hogan, Times-Picayune June 01, 2008 11:41PM
Categories: BaseballTALLAHASSEE, FLA. - Tulane ace right-hander Shooter Hunt has had two days of rest and has told his coach he’s ready if needed.
Coach Rick Jones just might take him up on that offer.
Down to what could be the Green Wave’s last game of the season and facing the best hitting team its come up against all year, Jones said Sunday night he’d sleep on the idea of bringing Hunt back early and then talk about it more on Monday before making a decision.
After the 17-8 shellacking Florida State put on the Green Wave here Sunday in the NCAA Tallahassee Regional, Jones is willing to try almost anything.
The regional final is at 6 p.m. Monday night.
The top-seeded Seminoles are one of the best hitting teams in the country. And lately, they’ve been scorching hot. Since being shutout 7-0 in the regional opener against Bucknell, the Seminoles have been on a tear, scoring 58 runs and racking up 64 hits in its three straight victories over Florida, Bucknell and Tulane.
That’s why, even on short notice, Hunt, who is expected to be selected in the first round of the MLB amateur draft this week, is an option.
Hunt started Tulane’s 7-4 victory over Florida on Friday. He didn’t get the decision, but threw 99 pitches in 5 1/3 innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out five.
Sophomore Taylor Rogers appears to be the most logical starter, however. But he hasn’t started a game since May 6 against UNO, and has pitched just twice since then.
“We’ll send out a right-hander,” Jones said. “I’m not going to make that decision yet. We got a couple pretty good arms down there, and in regional play you go with your best available guy tomorrow.”
When asked if that meant Hunt was available, Jones replied:
“Yes.”
Even as a starter?
“Yes,” he said. “But I’m not going to say he’s going to do that yet. We’re going to go with a right-hander. I want to talk to (Hunt) again tomorrow. But he feels good. He felt good (Sunday). And we have our bullpen that we’ve been utilizing a lot in Nick Pepiton and Rob Segedin. (They’ll) have had two days of rest, too. That gives us a little bit more depth in the bullpen.”
Florida State coach Mike Martin said if Hunt is the starter for the game, the Green Wave is sending out one of the best arms in the nation, and one the could present some problems for his potent lineup.
“Shooter Hunt is one of the best pitchers in college baseball,” Martin said. “I saw him pitch against Florida and was extremely impressed. His reputation certainly precedes him. He’s a definite No. 1 draft pick and will certainly pose a challenge against anybody he pitches against.”
Martin added that he’ll use his ace on short rest as well, sending left-hander Matt Fairel to the mound. Fairel (10-2) started Saturday in the Seminoles’ 17-11 win over Florida. In that game he threw 62 pitches
FSU slugs its way to finals
June 2, 2008
Posey homers four times in two big wins for FSU By Steve Ellis * DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER * June 2, 2008 The postseason belongs to Buster Posey.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane-football/…
Pitching powers Wave to regional final
June 1, 2008
Sunday, June 01, 2008By Nakia Hogan
TALLAHASSEE, FLA. — Shortstop Josh Prince snagged a line drive and catcher Jared Dyer sprinted to the mound to put a big bear hug on relief pitcher Preston Claiborne. Their Tulane teammates rushed to get their turn at slapping Claiborne on the back.
It was a bit early for a full-fledged celebration. But this one felt good.
The Green Wave’s Matt Petiton and Claiborne combined for a three-hit hitter as Tulane defeated Bucknell 4-1 Saturday night in the winners’ bracket game of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional at Howser Stadium.
“This is just a good win for us,” Tulane Coach Rick Jones said. “This is our fourth regional final in the past five years. So it’s not unchartered territory for us to be where we are, but it is for a lot of these players. It was good to see us play the way we did today, knowing what was riding on it. Still, we know that we have a very, very tough challenge ahead of us.”
Tulane is in the driver’s seat of this double-elimination regional.
This is the fourth time the Green Wave has opened a regional with consecutive victories. And each time it has advanced to the Super Regional. Tulane also started 2-0 in 2001, 2004 and 2005.
The path to a super regional this season is a bit clearer, but it certainly isn’t an easy one. At 6 p.m. tonight, Tulane will play the winner of the Bucknell-Florida State game, which is at noon.
The Green Wave needs a victory to advance to a super regional. If Tulane loses tonight, it will play again at 6 p.m. Monday.
“We are one win away,” Tulane center fielder Anthony Scelfo said. “We don’t have to win three or four, we don’t have to worry about Omaha. All we have to do is win one game. It’s a great situation to be in.”
Claiborne helped the cause for the Green Wave (39-20-1). In perhaps the best outing of his Tulane career, he entered the game in the sixth inning and worked the Green Wave out of trouble.
Claiborne pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing just one hit. He struck out four and walked none on his way to his third save of the season. Petiton (7-1) started and pitched 5 1/3 innings, yielding two hits, striking out two and walking five.
“I knew I was coming in a big situation,” Claiborne said. “I’m a reliever, that’s what we got to do. . . . There was nothing that could have distracted me. It was just Jared (Dyer) and the mitt. I just tried to hit that mitt as many times as I could.”
Freshman Rob Segedin put the Green Wave ahead 2-0 with a two-run single in the third inning, and ended a 16-inning scoreless streak by Bucknell pitchers (30-23-2).
An inning later, Scelfo smoked a two-run triple to left-center field, bringing home Josh Prince, who reached on a bloop single, and Scott Powell, who walked.
Petiton worked his way out of a potentially dangerous fifth inning. He opened the inning by walking the first two batters — Chris Pieper and Ed Rubbo. After a sacrifice bunt that advanced the runners to third and second base, Petiton hit Ben Allen, loading the bases with only one out.
But the Bison couldn’t take advantage. Petiton scrambled to get the next hitter, Dane Grandizio, to pop up in the infield. And then he got Mark Angelo to fly out to center field.
Petiton was in trouble again in the sixth inning. This time Jones didn’t allow him the chance to work his way out.
After getting the leadoff batter in the sixth to fly out to left field, Petiton walked the next two. And Jones replaced him with Claiborne, who got Austin Turban to fly out for the second out.
Claiborne then struck out Rubbo on a wild pitch, and Andrew Brouse scored, closing the margin to 4-1 before the inning ended one batter latter on a groundout to shortstop.
In the eighth inning, Tulane encountered more trouble following a throwing error by Segedin that left the Bison with runners at first and second base with no outs.
Again, the Green Wave came through. Claiborne induced Shawn Hirsch into a ground ball to Prince at shortstop. Prince tossed the ball to second baseman Seth Henry, for an out, and Henry threw to first for the double play.
Claiborne put an end to the inning one batter later by striking out Turban.
“They had quality pitching from both their pitchers,” Bucknell Coach Gene Depew said. “We obviously needed more than three hits to win a ball game. We had a lot of opportunities earlier in the game. We had some bases on balls and just couldn’t get the hit when we needed at the right time.”
Petiton, Claiborne Pitch Baseball Past Bucknell In NCAA Regional, 4-1
June 1, 2008
Green Wave duo hold Bison to just three hits while striking out six; Segedin, Scelfo drive in a pair eachClick here to find out more!
May 31, 2008
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Sophomores Matt Petiton and Preston Claiborne combined to strike out six while allowing just three hits and the Green Wave defense turned in another nearly flawless performance as the third-seeded Tulane University baseball team defeated No. 4 seed Bucknell, 4-1, Saturday evening in day two of the 2008 NCAA Tallahassee Regional at Dick Howser Stadium.
Freshman third baseman Rob Segedin put Tulane ahead 2-0 with a two-run single in the third and junior centerfielder Anthony Scelfo gave the Wave a 4-0 lead with a two-out, two-run triple an inning later. From there, the game belonged to the pitchers. Petiton (7-1) allowed just a run on two hits and five walks while striking out a pair in a 5.1-inning start while Claiborne allowed just a single while punching out four over the final 3.2 stanzas to earn his third save of the year.
With the win, Tulane (39-20-1) advances to the Regional Championship Game where it will take on the winner of tomorrow’s Florida State/Bucknell contest at 6 p.m. (CDT). The Bison (30-23-2), meanwhile, fall into the loser’s bracket and will play the Seminoles on Sunday at noon for the right to play the Wave in the championship game. The loser of the Seminole/Bison matchup will be eliminated from NCAA postseason play.
“I’m real excited about the win because I thought we had to play very, very well,” Tulane head coach Rick Jones said. “Bucknell played so well defensively. You know they’re going to score unless you make good pitchers. They showed that last night (when they defeated Florida State, 7-0).
“When they brought in their best guy (Jason Buursma), and he was outstanding, that was a concern. He held us at bay and it was a situation where can we protect the lead. Anthony’s triple was huge for us to stretch the lead, and Preston was just outstanding - getting out of the jam in the eighth when we turned the double play, we didn’t panic, and going to work in the ninth with two outs on two pitches. It was just a good win for us.”
Sophomore shortstop Josh Prince was the only player for either team to post more than one hit on the night, going 2-for-3 with a double, a run scored and a stolen base. Junior second baseman Seth Henry went 0-for-2, but stole a pair of bases and scored a run in the victory.
Tulane and Bucknell battled to a scoreless tie over the first two innings, but the Green Wave got things going in the third when junior left fielder Scott Powell reached safely on a leadoff, bunt single and advanced to second on a walk issued to Scelfo. Henry’s sacrifice bunt attempt was thwarted when Bison catcher Shawn Hirsch fielded the ball in front of the plate and fired a strike to third to erase the lead runner, but a wild pitch allowed Scelfo and Henry to both move into scoring position.
From there, Segedin ripped a two-run single through the left side of the infield to give Tulane a 2-0 lead it would not relinquish. An inning later, Bucknell starting pitcher Eric Jarrett retired the first two Green Wave hitters with relative ease, but Prince sparked a two-out rally with a single to center, and Powell worked a seven-pitch plate appearance into a walk. Jarrett jumped ahead of Scelfo 0-2, but the native of North Kenner ripped the next pitch he saw into the gap in left central for a two-run triple to stretch the lead to four.
“(Jarrett) was getting me out front with his slider in the first at-bat and he got me 0-1 to start that at-bat off with a slider,” Scelfo said. “Then I fouled off a fastball to get 0-2, and I just thought he was going to come with that pitch (the slider). That was the pitch he was going to get me with. He kept me off balance with it. I happened to stay back on that one, hit it where it was pitched, and drove it to the gap.
“It was with two outs, too. Josh got the rally going with the single and Scotty had a big walk. They did a great job with two outs. Two-out rallies like that just put so much pressure on the other team. There was nobody on base, they didn’t have any pressure on them, and those two guys did a good job to get on base for me.”
The Bison made things interesting in the top of the fifth when Chris Pieper and Ed Rubbo drew back-to-back walks to lead off the frame and shortstop Ben Allen was hit by a pitch to load the bases with only one out. Petiton, however, bounced back to get Dane Grandizio to pop up to short and Mark Angelo to fly out to center to escape the frame with no damage done.
Petiton pitched his way into trouble again in the fifth when he issued back-to-back, one-out walks to Andrew Brouse and Shawn Hirsch, and was lifted at that point in favor of sophomore right-hander Preston Claiborne. Claiborne nearly pitched the Wave out of the jam with a fly ball to center and a swinging strikeout of Rubbo, but his third strike to the Bucknell third baseman bounced in front of the plate and rolled to the backstop. That allowed Brouse, who went from second to third on the fly ball, to score and make it a 4-1 ballgame.
The Bison had something going again in the top of the eighth when Buursma hit a leadoff single and advanced to second on an errant throw following a fielder’s choice ground ball to third by Brouse. From there, however, Claiborne got Hirsch to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play and struck out reserve left fielder Austin Turban to wiggle off the hook.
From there, Claiborne got pinch hitters Zachary Brown and John Avanzino fly out on first-pitch offerings before Allen hit a line drive to Prince to spark the Tulane celebration.
“Today, I knew I was coming into a big situation,” Claiborne said. “I’m a reliever. That’s what we have to do. In the bullpen, I was struggling a little bit finding my rhythm, my tempo and finding the zone. When I got out there and started throwing my warm-up pitches, I had a little bit more adrenalin pumping and that’s when I got really focused in.
“After I got out of that inning in the sixth, there was nothing that could have distracted me. It was just (junior catcher) Jared (Dyer) and the mitt. I just tried to hit that mitt as much as I could. I had more great plays made behind me tonight than I’ve had in any outing previously.”
Lost in the Tulane victory was the performance of Bucknell reliever Jason Buursma, who allowed just one hit while striking out three in 4.1 scoreless innings of work. Buursma entered the game right after Scelfo’s triple in the fourth and retired the first six batters he faced before giving up a double to Prince. The only other blemish on his Saturday performance came in the seventh when he plunked Henry, but Buursma bounced back to retire the final five Tulane hitters he faced.
“First of all, I’d like to congratulate Tulane on a very well-played ball game,” Bucknell head coach Gene Depew said. `They had quality pitching from both their pitchers and their aggressive base running was a very good thing for them. You know, we obviously needed more than three hits to win a ball game. I think that we had a lot of opportunities earlier in the game. We had some bases on balls and just couldn’t get the hit that we needed at the right time. We had a lot of hard hit balls that were outs but just didn’t get it done when we needed to.”
Allen, Buursma - who also served as the Bison’s designated hitter - and second baseman Bret Sokirka had one hit each for the Bucknell cause. Jarrett (5-6) was tagged with the loss after allowing four runs on six hits and three walks while striking out three in a 3.2-inning start.
Tulane beats Bucknell 4-1
May 31, 2008
Tulane pitchers Matt Petiton and Preston Claiborne combined for a three-hitter as the Green Wave advanced to the championship game of the NCAA Regional with a 4-1 win over Bucknell on Saturday.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane-football/…
Six-Run Seventh Lifts Baseball Past Florida In NCAA Regional
May 31, 2008
Wave erase 4-1 deficit with the big inning to defeat the Gators, 7-4; Powell, Prince post three hits eachClick here to find out more!
May 30, 2008
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Junior left fielder Scott Powell and sophomore shortstop Josh Prince combined to go 6-for-8, and rookie right-hander Nick Pepitone pitched 2.2 scoreless innings of relief as the third-seeded Tulane University baseball team defeated No. 2 seed Florida, 7-4, in game one of the 2008 NCAA Tallahassee Regional Friday afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium.
Tulane trailed 4-1 after six innings, but the Green Wave offense took advantage of six hits, two wild pitches, a walk and a sacrifice fly to plate six in the seventh to account for the final score. With the win, Tulane (38-20-1) advances to the winner’s bracket where it will play the winner of tonight’s Florida State/Bucknell contest on Saturday at 6 p.m. (CDT). Florida (34-23), meanwhile, drops into the loser’s bracket and will take on the loser of this evening’s Seminole/Bison matchup on Saturday at noon.
Florida erased a 1-0 deficit with a four-run sixth which included an RBI-double by Brandon McArthur and two-run homer off the bat of Jon Townsend. Unfazed, Tulane stormed right back in the top of the seventh with five consecutive singles to take control of the ballgame.
“We played as close to a complete game today as we could play,” Tulane head coach Rick Jones said. “We had good starting pitching and we pitched really well out of the bullpen. With the exception of one play, we really played well defensively. We had a lot of quality at-bats, especially in RBI situations there in the sixth were we capitalized. I thought our short game today was really special and had a lot to do with our win.”
After dropping three straight games to end the regular season and going 1-2 in the Conference USA Tournament, Jones and his staff looked for something or someone to give the Green Wave baseball a spark. Tulane found that spark - plus some - in a familiar, if surprising, place. Powell started his first game of the season in left and first overall since April 9, and responded by going 3-for-4 with a run scored. Prince, meanwhile, went 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored from the ninth spot in the batting order.
“Scotty has given us a lot of good situational performances, but what we were able to do starting Monday was reevaluate some guys in intrasquad and simulated-game situations,” Jones said. “Scotty really showed up in that. We talked about it as a staff yesterday and I wanted to sleep on it a little bit. I just felt like we needed a spark, and if Scotty could give us that spark, he would make a big difference. He certainly did. He had a single, got those two bunts down and beat them out, and made two really good plays in the outfield.
“Josh was the same thing. He had a really good day offensively. He handles left-handers well. Defensively, he made a big difference - having the plays that he made along with Seth (Henry) in the middle. You just don’t know. That’s why you play the games - find out. You say this guy can’t or that guy can’t but things change. Today, we just played a very complete ballgame.”
Down 4-1 after six, Tulane got things going in the top of the seventh when junior Aja Barto ripped a pinch-hit single to shallow center to lead off the stanza. Prince followed with a single to right to chase Florida starter Stephen Locke from the ballgame. The Gators called on Billy Bullock to thwart the rally, but Tulane had other ideas.
Powell kept the pressure on with a bunt single up the first base line to load the bases, and the Wave cut the lead to two on a wild pitch. From there, junior centerfielder Anthony Scelfo singled home Prince to make it a one-run affair, and junior second baseman Seth Henry came through with an RBI-single of his own to plate Powell from third and tie the game at 4-all.
Bullock’s second will throw of the inning gave Tulane the lead, but the Green Wave kept the rally going as freshman third baseman Rob Segedin walked, junior catcher Jared Dyer lifted a sacrifice fly to left and junior right fielder Drew Allain laced a two-out, RBI-single to center to drive home what proved to be the game’s final run.
Taking the mound with the lead in the bottom of the seventh, Pepitone (4-1) faced the minimum in the inning with a walk, a strikeout and a double-play grounder, and pitched his way around a one-out double in the eighth. Florida put the leadoff runner on in the ninth when reserve catcher Hampton Tignor walked but Segedin made the move from the hot corner to the mound to get a line-out to shortstop and a 6-4-3 double play to earn his fifth save of the season.
“When I went out to the mound, (Tulane starting pitcher) Shooter (Hunt) gave me some words of encouragement,” Pepitone said. “He just told me to keep them where they were and our team would be able to continue to get on their pitchers and we’d be fine. I just had to keep it close and that was my only job.”
Tulane out-hit Florida, 15-8, including two-hit performances by Henry, Dyer and Allain. Hunt did not factor in the decision after allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and two walks while striking out five in 5.1 innings of work.
After battling to a scoreless tie over the first four innings of play, Tulane drew first blood in the fifth when Prince hit a leadoff double to right central, Powell followed with a bunt single and Scelfo was hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out. Locke got Henry to bounce into a 5-4 fielder’s choice, double play to erase the runners at second and third, but it was good enough to bring Prince home to give Tulane a 1-0 advantage.
Florida had a chance to answer in the home half of the frame as Gator right fielder Riley Cooper opened the stanza with a single to left and stole second base with nobody out. From there, however, Hunt sandwiched strikeouts around a fly ball to center to get out of the inning unscathed.
In the sixth, Florida’s Cole Figueroa and McArthur opened the inning with a single and a double, respectively, to tie the game, and McArthur scored during the ensuing at-bat when Josh Adams dropped down a sacrifice bunt back to the mound that Hunt threw wide of the bag for a three-base error. Following a fly-ball out to right off Bryson Barber’s bat, Townsend hammered a two-run homer off the scoreboard in left to give the Gators a 4-1 lead and set up Tulane’s six-runs seventh.
“They came out and they answered big - put up a four spot,” Scelfo said. “They put us in a whole quickly and they did it with Shooter on the mound. They had a big inning and a big rally, but we came in averaging seven runs a ballgame. We were down three and we had three at-bats left. We just relaxed and went out and played the game.
“We had a lot of hits at that point, we had guys on base, but we just weren’t getting them in. In that inning, we just happened to put the bat on the ball a little bit starting with Aja and we just kept it going. It got contagious - single after single, line drive after line drive. The next thing you know, we put up a six spot.”
Barber and Cooper were the only two Gator players to post multiple-hit ballgames, both going 2-for-4. Bullick (4-5) was tagged with the loss after allowing four runs on three hits and a walk in one-third of an inning of relief. Locke pitched admirably, allowing three runs on 10 hits while striking out three in a 6.0-inning start, but Tulane’s big seventh proved to be the difference in the ballgam
Bucknell 7, FSU 0 No. 4 Bucknell vs No 3 Tulane
May 31, 2008
FSU beat by Number 4 Bucknell. Bucknell vs Tulane Saturday evening.
Tulane knocks off Florida
May 30, 2008
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Tulane sent 11 batters to the plate in a six-run seventh inning, erasing a three-run deficit en route to a 7-4 victory over Florida in the opening round of the Tallahassee Regional on …
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane-football/…
Green Wave make come back with 6 run 7th inning
May 30, 2008
Huge win by the Green Wave.
Pepitone records the win going 2.2 innings only giving up one hit while striking out 2.
Segedin gets save number 5.
Powell and Prince go 6 for 8 with three hits a piece. Henry, Dyer and Allain get two hits each.
After 4 1/2 Greenies lead 1-0
May 30, 2008
After 4 innings Shooter Hunt has given up 2 hits, 0 earned runs and 1 base on balls.
Scott Powell is 2 for 3.
