Even as the losses piled up for the Tulane baseball team, opposing coaches saw potential that was fully realized during a historic run at the American Athletic Conference tournament.
No one could have predicted the Green Wave would go from 15-39 when it arrived in Clearwater, Florida, to Baton Rouge-bound for a regional a day after winning the event, but the miserable record to that point did not match the Green Wave's ability.
"When they were in Greenville, they got their 13th win against us, and I told somebody that’s the best 13-win team I’ve ever seen," East Carolina coach Cliff Godwin said after Tulane beat the regular-season AAC champion Pirates in the championship game. "They definitely have more talent than what their win total is."
Godwin paused to emphasize he was not taking a shot at first-year coach Jay Uhlman, adding he thought he was a good coach.
Tulane actually shut out East Carolina 8-0 in the middle game of the regular-season series in which all three finished on the same day because of weather issues. The Green Wave's two losses were by one and two runs.
Houston coach Todd Whitting, whose team dropped two of three to Tulane in Clearwater after sweeping the Wave in New Orleans two weekends earlier, had the same feeling. Tulane scored 29 runs in their AAC tournament meetings, eventually sending the second-seeded Cougars packing.
"Their offense is really starting to click," Whitting said. "The top of that order is as good as any in our league. Jay does a good job. That was a tremendous hire over there, and he’s going to do really good things.
"We swept them in New Orleans but all three games could have gone either way. They were tough. They were one of the toughest teams we played against in conference all year."
There is no question Tulane was lousy for stretches this season. The Wave was run-ruled four times in AAC play. Its ERA of 7.00 is considerably higher than the previous worst total in school history set in 1990 (6.72). Its batting average was in the .220 range for the first half of the season.
Despite those struggles, the players never stopped insisting they were good enough to turn it around, and Uhlman noticed an obvious change in Clearwater.
"I’d get on the bus to talk to them before practice or after practice or before a game and after a game and I just saw a different sort of focus," he said. "I may not be the smartest guy in America, but I think I do have some pretty decent emotional intelligence. I just have a good feel for them when they’re in a good place and they’re not in a good place, and I can tell you without hesitation that from the time we left New Orleans to the time we got (to Clearwater), they were committed and purposeful. They were resilient and they were gritty. Every adjective you can use, they showed it."
Graduate transfer pitcher Ricky Castro, who closed out East Carolina with his first career save in a rare relief appearance, seconded that notion.
"We knew we had the talent and the support the whole way through the year," he said. "Even though things haven’t shaken out as we wanted the whole time, we still just kept faith and stuck to it."
Castro was hit hard in both of his tournament starts after a strong finish to the regular season, but he embodied the resiliency Uhlman praised. With the normal closing options spent after long stints the night before against Houston, Castro embraced his opportunity.
"I was visualizing that moment all day being able to get the last out for the team, throwing my glove up in the air and celebrating with everybody," he said. "I was mentally ready. My arm was hurting a little bit, but if you’re in the right mindset you can put yourself through it."
The competition level will ratchet up significantly against No. 5 overall seed LSU at 2 p.m. Friday at Alex Box Stadium, but after moving a million miles forward metaphorically in one week, the Wave is dreaming of what would be the equivalent of a billion.
"They are a very good team and have really good hitters, but they’re beatable," said left-handed pitcher Dylan Carmouche, Tulane’s likely starter against the Tigers. "They are still human. I think we can win.
"People have been counting us out the whole season based on the record, but nobody on our team has thought that way. We just have to keep going."
