Rick Jones gets extension, sounds off on schedule

A good year for Tulane baseball head coach Rick Jones just got a little bit better today. Tulane Athletics Director Rick Dickson announced Thursday that Jones' contract has been extended through 2015. The extension was in the works in 2005, according to Dickson, but Hurricane Katrina delayed the negotiations.

"It was our intent following the 2005 College World Series to synchronize an announcement of a contract extension for Rick Jones with the opening of the new stadium, but that was obviously delayed," Dickson said. "This extension will secure Tulane's baseball future through the Rick Jones era and the completion of his coaching career."

No complaints here. Heck-- let's lock him up until 2030. Does

Schedule too crowded?

Speaking of Jones, here's a tease from staff writer Jon Posner's upcoming print article previewing the UC Irvine game. Jones is quoted as being upset with the new scheduling rules and the powers that be:

Coach Jones is also worried about how rested his team will be for this weekend. Thanks to new rules by the NCAA, teams are forced to have more condensed schedules. Going into Friday the Green Wave will have played ten games in 15 days. Besides the fact that his players may be fatigued, Coach Jones is just not happy with the new rule.

“We are playing a major league schedule as far as the number of games, but a major-leaguer does not have to pass 18 hours at Tulane University,” said Jones. “So there is no question that the NCAA did not look after college baseball players with this schedule.”

As Coach Jones knows though, complaining is not going to change the schedule and the games still have to be played. This is going to be a tough weekend, and it will take a team effort to come away with a series victory. While the schedule so far has been hard, Coach Jones knows that it is only for the best and it is a great opportunity for the Green Wave to see what the national competition is like.

He's definitely got a legitimate beef, and Arizona head coach Andy Lopez agrees (although it seems like the players like the new scheduling). We'll ask Tulane players how they feel about it this weekend, but I would imagine they wouldn't like it too much either. For instance, weekday starter Jonathan Garret, a junior, is also a Biomedical Engineering major. Students in the engineering school can barely balance school with minor extracurriculars while still maintaining some semblance of a social life. I wonder how Garrett does it? Sounds like an article in the making.

Season Over for Women's Basketball

After ending the regular season on a high note with an impressive win against SMU, the women's basketball team fell in the opening round of the Conference USA Tournament 65-58 to Marshall, in all likelihood ending their season.

According to Lisa Stockton, the team that beat Kansas St. and SMU showed up in the second half while the team that stunk it up in conference showed up in the first half. The question remains: why? Was the team not motivated, or did they not feel a sense of urgency? Any team that shoots 17% for an entire half doesn't deserve to be competitive in a game. It's hard to imagine motivation being a factor, and Marshall's defense isn't exactly the one of the best in the nation (although they are fourth in C-USA). Even if it was, there's really no excuse for shooting that poorly unless the effort or sense of urgency wasn't there.

In the end, it was a combination of the understandable inconsistency of young players and the lack of mental fortitude on this team that hurt it in conference play. When shots weren't falling, everything seemed to fall apart and the scrappy, tenacious mindset that characterized last season's team disappeared. The loss of scorers and team leaders like Montagnino and Henry

Still, there's a lot to look forward to next season. Ashley Langford should be All-Conference and, if she improves over the summer, an All-American. Slaton and Aidoo showed a lot of potential, and only Alendra Brown, Nikki Luckhurst and Dominique Philpots will graduate, leaving a number of solid role players. But in order to avoid a repeat of this season, someone will have to step up an score over 15 points per game and show they can bail the team out during offensive slumps.

Here's an unusually succinct quote from a usually-chatty Nikki Luckhurst (from the game story on the official website):

"I can't believe that it's over. It's been a great four years, I couldn't ask for anything better."

Dairy Queen Classic Recap

Update: Pictures from Minnesota (scroll down a little)

Also, Baseball America interviews a few National League scouts who views Shooter Hunt as a sure-fire No.1 or No. 2 starter. Can't say I disagree.



Tulane baseball (6-2) finished out a rough weekend in Minnesota with a win over an impressive TCU team. Due to unfortunate tournament scheduling, Shooter Hunt and the Green Wave had to go up against Pepperdine ace Brett Hunter. Hunt and Hunter gave up two runs a piece, but the Tulane bullpen gave up two runs in the last to innings, while Waves reliever Nick Gaudi pitched two shutout innings to seal a 4-2 victory for Pepperdine.

While Pepperdine was bound to be a tough matchup, the loss to Minnesota on Saturday was more of a shocker. Tulane led until the eighth inning, when Vanderbilt transfer Josh Zeid and righthander Preston Claiborne gave up four runs to give Minnesota a 7-5 lead and eventually the win.

The bullpen rebounded today against TCU after freshman Robbie Broach gave up three runs in six innings. Freshman Nick Pepitone gave up a hit in 1.1 innings, and closer Mason Griffin retired the last four batters for the save. Junior Seth Henry had a pair of hits while junior Aja Barto hit a solo homer.

Overall, it wasn't an ideal weekend (especially after losing to the Gophers), but at least the team left with a win. UNO, Southern and UC Irvine loom this weekend.

Baseball crushes Louisiana-Lafayette

UPDATE: Our friends over at Gopher Nation have informed us that they will be blogging this weekend. Also, be sure to check out CSTV's score updates.


Despite the freezing cold temperatures outside, a modest contingency (albeit relatively quiet and focused on keeping warm) of Tulane fans showed up to see the Green Wave pummel No. 25 Louisiana-Lafayette. Junior Anthony Scelfo notched not one, but two triples. He had three hits for the night and a walk in five plate appearances. For those who missed it, you can actually "replay" the game with CSTV's nifty gametracker.

Player of the Game: Jonathan Garrett

While Scelfo reeked havoc at the top of the lineup (along with junior Drew Allain, who looked really good at the lead-off spot again), junior starter Jonathan Garret pitched a heck of a game, giving up only a hit in six scoreless innings. Sure, the Cajuns offense might be struggling, but Garret looked sharp with his location and featured some nasty breaking balls.

Stat of the Game: 1

That's the number of earned runs the bullpen gave up today, the first its given up over the course of the young season. That puts them well short of the 2005 Tulane bullpen's feat of no runs allowed in its first 15 games. But the culprit was third baseman and part-time reliever Rob Segedin, which begs the question: should that really count?

Coming Up

The Green Wave will be in Minnesota for the Dairy Queen Classic. Its opponents will include the Gophers as well as TCU and Pepperdine (which, other than Rice and UC Irvine, may be the best team TUlane faces in the regular season).

Baseball over Southeastern Louisiana, 4-3

What a thriller!! A game-winning single by junior Sam Honeck in the bottom of the 12th keeps the Green Wave undefeated. But the real MVPs tonight were the Tulane bullpen, which only allowed one run (an unearned one in the 11th inning). Junior Drew Allain did an admirable job at the top of the lineup. Here is a recap, along with quotes and a box score.

Two things worry me about this team to this point. First, let's hope the starters can go deeper than five innings so that Jones won't have to overextend the bullpen. The dominance of this unit reminds me a lot of the 2005 relief staff that didn't give up an earned run in its first 15 games of the season. Still, it will be crucial to have these arms fresh for Conference USA and (in all likelihood) postseason play. The other issue is the offense, which, other than a few big innings (caused by Illinois-Chicago's horrendous defense), looks a little shaky so far. Of course, the optimists will point out that the guys struggling so far are freshmen like infielder Rob Segedin or transfers still settling in like sophomore shortstop Josh Prince.

But overall, this team looks like it's ready for a challenge like No. 25 Louisiana-Lafayette tomorrow or Pepperdine in the Dairy Queen Classic (great name) this weekend.

Baseball Roundup: No. 18 vs. No. 25 Wednesday night in Turchin

The new Baseball America (the best publication in the business) rankings are out, and Tulane jumped from No.22 to No. 18 following its sweep of Illinois-Chicago. Meanwhile, tomorrow night's opponent, Louisiana-Lafayette (2-2), jumped to No. 25 after being unranked to begin the season [UPDATE: One commenter noted correctly that ULL was actually ranked No. 19 to begin the season -- my apologies]. The only other notable ranking is Rice at No. 15, as East Carolina dropped out after a bad weekend. Here are some other rankings out there (note: future TUlane opponents Pepperdine and UC Irvine are ranked in many of these polls).

The different between Baseball America and other rankings is that the Baseball America people actually watch the games. So Arizona, for example, won two of three on the road in Georgia to start the season, a very tough place to play. Other rankings dropped Arizona a little bit for losing a game, but Baseball America put them at No. 1 because of how well they played and the competitiveness of the Sun Devil's 9-7 opening-day loss. Bottom line: I trust Baseball America's ranking more than any of the other ones.

Tonight's starters vs. SELA

Sophomore lefty Matt Petitone, a former high school All-American, will take the mound against Lions lefthander, Rene LeBlanc. Petitone is a transfer from North Carolina and a native of Garden City, N.Y.

Tomorrow Night's Starters vs. ULL

Junior right-hander Jonathan Garret will make the second start of his career Wednesday night against the No. 25 Ragin' Cajuns. He will face lefty John Zorich.

Men's Basketball vs. Southern Miss 2nd Half

The Wave fall once again, 70-59. That's the fifth straight defeat after the day started with such great promise. It'll be a very disappointed locker room but the Wave still have an opportunity to salvage the season.

Gotta love the Tulane pep band who chants "education" while USM fans start their cheer

13.6 Wise hits two more free throws. Wave down 11.

25.4 Mayhane shoots a three that gets nothing but air. Stith grabs the offensive rebound. Mayhane puts up another three and is fouled. All three shots are good but the Wave trail by 9.

41.7 Stith commits the foul after Sims missed the layup. Wise with another two free throws. Both are good once again and the Wave will need a miracle down by 12.

1:02 Sims grabs Wise and commits the foul. Both free throws are good and the Wave trail by 10.

1:29 Mayhane misses the three and S. Miss brings it up slowly.

2:48 Stith is fouled hard going for the dunk. He'll have two crucial free throws after the official timeout. The first free throw is good but the second rims out. Gomez taps it out to Stith. Wave commits the turnover after it's knocked away from Stith. Southern Miss comes away with it and hits a three pointer, that could be the dagger as the Wave trail by 8.

3:02 Craft hits a jumper to push the lead out to 6.

3:30 Gomez's shot rolls in and out. Unlucky for the Wave. Southern Miss calls a timeout with 26 left on the shot clock.

4:55 Richard commits the loose-ball foul as Mayhane turned it over. One of two free throws for Craft. Richard ends up with the ball after the second free throw is no good. He outlets it to Sims who lays it in and appears to have been fouled. No call. Wave down 57-53.

5:57 Mayhane commits the shooting foul on Stephens. The first goes in and out. The 2nd is good. 56-51 Eagles.

A crucial possession game coming up for the Wave as they trail by 4 with six minutes left. Southern Miss has possession with 13 left on the shot clock.

7:05 Wheaton telegraphed that last pass and it was picked off by Wise. Wheaton commits the foul on Wise who was going in for the layup. Mayhane quickly back to the scorer's table to check in for Wheaton. Wise hits 1 of 2 free throws to make it a 4 point game.

7:44 Gomez grabs the miss by Louisme and lays it in to cut it to 1.

8:47 Sims misses his first three of the game but S. Miss turns the ball over out of bounds on the other end.

9:18 Wise drops it in high off glass to give S. Miss a 3 point lead. Dickerson calls timeout.

10:27 Stith commits the foul on Stephens who hits the layup. The free throw is long and Gomez comes up with it. Mayhane commits the turnover on the traveling violation.

10:49 Louisme hits the one handed hook to make it 49-48 Tulane

11:16 Bad foul by Wheaton as he committed the turnover right before. S. Miss in the bonus the rest of the way.

11:40 Gomez commits the foul on Wise. He hits both free throws to make it 48-47 Eagles

11:48 Louisme rolls in the jumper but is called for the offensive foul. The ball will go back to S. Miss after the official timeout. The Wave up to 61.5% from three point range.

12:26 Mayhane hits a three from the left wing to give Tulane the lead back, 47-46.

12:55 Wise hits a step back three pointer to give the Eagles the lead 46-44

13:36 Stephens hits the layup and is fouled by Stith. The three point play is not converted but Stephens rebounds his own miss and lays it back in. Wave up by 1, 44-43

14:55 Mayhane hits another three for the Wave to extend the lead out to 5. Wave shooting lights out tonight, up to 61% from the field and 7-12 from long distance.

15:38 Louisme drives the baseline and drops in a soft jumper. Wave up 2.

16:15 Richard hits the soft hook to tie it at 39 apiece.

16:51 Beasley hits a jumper to give S. Miss the lead by 2.

17:07 Richard hits another three to tie it up at 37. Richard is 3-4 so far.

17:26 Sims fouls Wise on the fastbreak to prevent the easy basket. Wise hits both and So. Miss has its biggest lead of the ball game at 3 points.

18:13 Louisme is fouled shooting a jumper and will have two free throws. Wave went 3-5 from the stripe in the first half. The first attempt is no good as is the second. Wave still up by 1, 34-33

18:50 Richard converts on a layup with the shot clock winding down to extend the lead out to three.

Southern Miss opens up in man-to-man for the first time this game it seems.

Sims leads all scorers with 15 points on 5-5 shooting, 3-3 from beyond the arc.

The Wave shot a blistering 57% from the field in the first half but still only have a 1 point cushion mainly due to 8 turnovers. If the Wave take care of the basketball in the second half, they should pull out the win.