Being 19-40 never, ever felt this good.
That much was easy to see as Tulane's baseball players dogpiled on the field at Baycare Ballpark in a wild celebration on Sunday afternoon after completing a stunning, nearly unprecedented run through the American Athletic Conference baseball tournament. They had just beaten regular-season champion and perennial powerhouse East Carolina 8-6 in the championship game, earning their first regional bid since 2016 despite breaking a school record for losses in Jay Uhlman’s first year as coach and dropping seven consecutive conference series before heading to Clearwater, Florida for what turned into a total redemption tour.
— The American (@American_Conf) May 28, 2023
That Championship dog pile 😁💚🌊#AmericanBSB x @GreenWaveBSB pic.twitter.com/6nhqK4kSoD
Tournament most outstanding player Teo Banks capped off a terrific week with three hits and three runs, finishing his five-game onslaught with 11 hits in 21 at-bats, three home runs and 11 RBIs. The Wave pitchers, who compiled by far the highest ERA in school history during the regular season, came up with clutch out upon clutch out after the Pirates answered Tulane’s three-run outburst in the top of the first by scoring four in the bottom half on four walks, two errors and one hit.
“Our mindset was to win it,” Banks said. “We knew it was an opportunity to start a new season and capitalize on that. The results rewarded us.”
In an upset-filled tournament that was packed with drama from start to finish, Tulane punched its ticket after some severe tension at the end. East Carolina, which had rebounded from an opening loss to No. 8 seed South Florida by winning four games in a row to get to Sunday, led off the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back singles—one off Colin Reilly and the next off Ricky Castro.
Castro, making his second relief appearance of the year after struggling mightily in both of his tournament starts, then got a force-out that left runners at the corners. The Pirates tried to steal second to get the tying run in scoring position, but Riley Johnson was ruled out on a bang-bang play that was reviewed for several minutes before the call was upheld.
“I just kept repeating self-affirmation of we’re going to win this game, we’re going to win this game, we’re going to win this game,” Uhlman said. “I said it over and over and over and over until that guy came out of there and said the call stood. I believe in the power of thought.”
Castro induced a lazy fly ball to left fielder Brady Hebert on his next pitch, ending the suspense and sending Tulane into nirvana.
“We all wanted this so bad,” said sophomore Jonah Wachter, who allowed one run in 3 2/3 innings in his first appearance of the tournament and only his third in May. “I knew that when my name got called that I had to step up, and I had to keep us in the game.”
Wachter was one of four unlikely relievers who held the Pirates in check following the first inning. Dylan Carmouche (5-8), who threw a 108-pitch, eight-inning complete game against Memphis on Thursday, gave up one hit and one run from the second through the fourth.
Wachter entered after Tulane took a lead it never relinquished, scoring three in the top of the fifth on Banks’ third straight single, a wild pitch and a RBI groundout.
Reilly, a freshman who walked seven in the first inning at Memphis last weekend, got the last out of the eighth inning to preserve a 7-6 advantage. Brady Marget then gave the Wave a much needed insurance run by singling in Banks in the ninth before Castro earned his first save.
“Those are the kind of stories that show up this time of the year when you’re taxed for what you have and guys have had limited opportunities because of performance,” Uhlman said. “The way those young guys came out of the pen was really a big boost for us. They wanted the moment and they were able to execute.”
East Carolina (45-17), which was on the bubble for hosting an NCAA regional, did not help its case, producing only seven hits.
“We just didn’t have any gas left in the tank having to come through the losers’ bracket,” coach Cliff Godwin said. “It felt like you could read the labels on our bats going through the zone because our guys are so tired.”
Tulane, which may be too excited to sleep for a while, will find out its destination on the NCAA selection show, which starts at 11 a.m. Monday. An opening-day matchup against LSU in Baton Rouge is one possibility, but the Green Wave will be thrilled wherever it ends up.
At No. 7, Tulane is the lowest seed ever to win the AAC tournament. Its record is the worst for a regional team since Youngstown State won the Horizon League tournament in 2014 at 16-36.
But the Wave did not back into its tournament championship, beating No. 2 seed Houston in its opener, handling the Cougars again late Saturday night to reach the title game and answering every East Carolina challenge on Sunday.
“The season wasn’t what we wanted, but it is a long season,” Uhlman said. “As long as there is breath in the lungs, you have a chance to be in the fight. We had breath in our lungs, and when you’ve got kids that believe, these kinds of things show up.”