On a 95-degree afternoon at Trustmark Park, the No. 16 Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ baseball team closed out its run at the Conference USA Championship with a 6-2 victory over Tulane. The Knights (43-15) finished the three-day tournament by outscoring their opponents in the last two games by a combined score of 17-3.<\/p>\n
With Travis Shreve and Alex Friedrich getting the day off, freshmen Spencer Haynes and Erik Barber filled in admirably, notching two hits apiece.<\/p>\n
“It was a complete team effort today,” head coach Terry Rooney said after the game. “You look at the contributions of some guys who haven’t played every single day and they did a terrific job. They made the most of their opportunities and I am very proud of them.”<\/p>\n
The Knights will now wait and see where they will play next weekend when the 64 teams are announced for the NCAA Tournament on Monday at noon on ESPNU.<\/p>\n
“I feel like this team is deserving of the opportunity to participate in the NCAA Tournament,” Rooney added. “The way these guys bounced back (this week) shows that they are on a mission to do something in the postseason.”<\/p>\n
Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ opened the game by taking advantage of Tulane’s David Napoli having a hard time finding the strike zone. The Knights coaxed three walks before Jeramy Matos (2-for-5, 1 RBI) smoked a single up the middle with two outs to score Chris Taladay.<\/p>\n
The Green Wave took its first lead this season on the Knights in the bottom of the first with a two-run homer by Nick Schneeberger to left field for the early 2-1 lead. Hanson responded by setting down the next 13 batters and allowed just three base runners the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ tied the game in the top of the fourth after the Green Wave attempted to turn a double play, but the shortstop’ s throw to first was in the dirt and trickled towards the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ dugout which allowed Haynes to score from second base.<\/p>\n
With one out in the bottom of the seventh tied at 2-2, Madrid made his first appearance of the weekend after Hanson was lifted. The Victoria, Texas, native came back from a 3-0 count for his 45th strikeout of the year and also forced a groundout to end the inning.<\/p>\n
Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ broke open the stalemate with three runs in the eighth on C-USA All-Second Team relief pitcher D.J. Ponder. Prior to the game, Ponder had allowed just three runs all year in 42 innings, but Haynes came through with a clutch two-out single to the first baseman to score D.J. Hicks (4 BBs) and a hustling Matos. Ronnie Richardson tacked on another run with a single through the left side for his 33rd RBI of 2012.<\/p>\n
JoMarcos Woods singled through the right side in the ninth to push the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ lead to 6-2. Lefty Joe Rogers came into the game in the ninth and closed out the Green Wave in a 1-2-3 non-save situation.<\/p>\n
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