It was another beautiful morning for football practice at Turchin Stadium, and Tulane's fourth workout of the spring brought out some noteworthy observers. I talked to former Wave defensive back Derrick Strozier, now a successful businessman in New Orleans who was wearing a coat and tie, for a while when I got there. Later, Tanzel Smart ambled in, with coach Willie Fritz immediately yelling, "You're late to practice, Tanzel," through his microphone that is pumped through the stadium's speaker system. Baseball coach Travis Jewett watched the latter part of practice, too, and got congratulated by Fritz for the big win at Louisiana-Lafayette last night when the workout was over.

Smart told me he is working with Tim Kettering in New Orleans to get ready for Pro Day at the Saints Facility on April 7. He heard good things about his performance at the scouting combine in Indiapolis and will do the same drills in front of scouts in Metairie as he attempts to prove his worth after an incredible career at Tulane.

On to the practice. I won't have the detailed 11-on-11 description as Tuesday because they had a lot of running plays, which are hard to judge in non-tackling drills, but here are some thoughts:

1) Jonathan Banks is really accurate when he throws on the run. That's a tremendous asset. Going against the first-team defense, he eluded pressure as he rolled to his right and threw a dart in between two defenders to Terren Encalade near the sideline. Encalade could not hold on because safety Roderic Teamer made an even better play, sticking his hand in there just after Encalade brought it in and knocking it loose.

A little later, in an almost carbon copy, Banks scrambled to his right and hit Jacob Robertson along the sideline with a perfect pass. Robertson held on, but was stripped a couple seconds later, drawing the ire of an offensive coach who said he had negated everything good about the play by not holding on. In fairness to to Robertson, it was not a tackling drill. At full speed he probably would have been pushed out of bounds, and he was not expecting the defenders to punch at the ball.

The main takeaway, though, is Banks' accuracy in a situation when many guys aren't.

"He really is accurate (on the run)," Fritz said. "That's exactly right. That's a big skill. A lot of guys, their accuracy goes down 20 or 30 percent once they start moving their feet and running, but he does a nice job of that."

None of the quarterbacks connected when they tried to go deep today, but some of the choices were strange. Banks threw long for walk-on Rocky Ferony with predictable results--an overthrow when Ferony got zero separation. Johnathan Brantley threw over everyone's heads, too. The two scoring tosses on the day came on similar plays, with Banks hitting Encalade on a slant for touchdown and Brantley ending the practice with a scoring toss to D.J. Owens on an inside route. Banks had the biggest mistake of practice, getting picked off by walk-on cornerback John Helow, who brought it back for a touchdown.

2) Dominique Briggs had some snapping issues. Working at center with the first-team offensive line, he forced Brantley to his knees on one shotgun snap and forced Glen Cuiellette to make a nice stab of a ball sailing over his head. After practice, the coaches worked with Briggs on his snapping, and Briggs told me he is still learning after playing center for the first time of his life last year in junior college. I will post interviews with Briggs and Jabril Clewis tomorrow morning. Neither one of them speak like the stereotype of a junior college guy. Clewis, of course, spent two years at San Diego Stage before injuries forced him to resurface at a juco.

3) The receivers still have room for improvement. The guys who were freshmen last fall have some potential, and so does Clewis, but they need to be more consistent. Encalade is the class of the group at the moment.

In other news, Darius Bradwell sat out practice with strapping on his right leg. He will miss tomorrow's practice as well but should be ready when the teams comes back from spring break on April 4. Miles Strickland is out again, too.

Fritz expects all six newcomers--Banks, Clewis, Briggs, Miami grad transfer Hunter Knighton, freshman Stephon Huderson and redshirting transfer Corey Dauphine--to be significant contributors, with the first five contributing in the fall.

"All of those guys have an opportunity to either start or be quality backups," Fritz said. "We want to make sure those guys don't get left behind."

The first-team offensive line was Tyler Johnson at LT, John Washington at LG, Briggs at center, Leeward Brown at right guard and John Leglue at RT.

The second-team offensive line was Keyshawn McLeod at LT, Washington at LG, Knighton at center, Briggs at RG and Devon Johnson at RT.

The first-team defensive line had Peter Woullard at LE, Sean Wilson at DT and Ade Aruna playing a little bit inside with Luke Johnson at end. I wouldn't read too much into that at this point, although I'll keep an eye on it tomorrow. It looked like Johnson was in a role as a hybrid DE/LB in a 3-3-5 look.

Stephon Lofton got some time with the first team while Parry Nickerson was resting, but Nickerson returned.

They did not do any special teams work in the last hour.

Cornerback P.J. Hall sat out practice. I forgot to ask about him but will check on it tomorrow.

I talked to them yesterday. Talked to Hunter Knighton and Larry Bryant today. Will have practice report up at some point, maybe tomorrow as Tulane takes a break until April 4.

DOMINIQUE BRIGGS

How are you adjusting?

"The adjustment is going great. I’m loving the town. I’m loving everything about Tulane. I love the school. I love the way the coaches coach. It’s totally different from my junior college."

Why did you choose Tulane?

"Education and facilities really and actually the coaching staff. Coach Fritz, coach Atkins, they are good coaches, they really care about the players and that was one of the big factors in my decision."

Where are you practicing the most?

"I’ve been playing center and guard and emergency tackle. I can really play anything."

You had a couple of snapping issues today. How much do you have to work on that part of the game?

"This is actually my second year playing center. I’d never played center before. I used to play defense when I was in junior college, so it’s a transition. Snapping is something you always have to work on. It’s just like shooting a basketball. You have to make sure your form is right at all times."

What do you need to do to earn a starting role?

"I feel I’m doing what I need to do right now—competing, working hard every day and putting in extra time in the film room and out here on the field. That’s what you gotta do to become a starter."

What can you add to the team?

"I feel like I can add a toughness, something this team has been missing and I want to say I can add a strong leadership role at my position. When I came here the guys told me coming out of junior college they needed toughness and they needed somebody to help lead. That’s what I feel I add to the team."

What position did you play last year?

"I played center. The transition is different. It’s totally different. It’s the same kind of concept but a totally different way about doing things."

Were you hesitant when they switched you to offense?

"I was kind of upset at first. I’m a team player, but I like hitting people. That’s what I love doing. I love being physical, and actually playing offensive line is a little bit easier scheme-wise, but technique-wise it’s a little bit harder. Scheme-wise you don’t have to read, you don’t have any keys, you don’t have to run to the ball. Your job is to line up and knock the dog’s doo out of somebody."

What do you need to do to reach your potential?

"I need to work on my steps and being confident with it. Once I get confident with my steps, and this is a new offense and totally different from how my junior college was, but once I gain my confidence in my steps, I’ll be able to play more aggressively and more within the game and that’s going to help me reach my potential."

Tulane is a run-heavy team, and most linemen prefer run blocking to pass blocking. Do you feel the same way?

"That was one of the big factors in my decision as well. I love run blocking. That’s one of the things I really love. That’s what I enjoy doing. We are going to have a chance to run the ball and actually knock the snot out of people and put them on the ground. That’s what I love to do."


JABRIL CLEWIS

How are you adjusting to Tulane?

"I’m adjusting pretty well. Being from California, never being over in the south ever. It’s a good change to open up my horizons. I’m having fun."

Why did you choose Tulane?

"I took a visit here and I just enjoyed it. It’s very cultured. The food is great. The weather is a little different, but I’ll get used to it, and the people are so nice, welcoming. I just enjoyed myself a lot."

What has been the biggest adjustment?

"The biggest adjustment has been just getting acclimated back into Division I style practicing. Juco is still college. I did that for a year and came back to here. It’s just getting adjusted to the speed. I’ve done it before, but it’s just that really. Nothing too big."

They've been using you in a lot of different ways in practice, including as a pitch man on the option. Do you like that?

"I like it a lot. The offense is really fun and we’ll have a great season this year and put some points up on the board."

You're a big guy. How much does that help you as a receiver?

"It can help a lot because you can always use a big target. I just want to come here and show them they’ve made the right decision and they can have trust in me."

You missed two years at San Diego State due to a knee injury. How tough was that?

"An injury, especially a knee injury, can get difficult, having to wake up early and come in for rehab and stuff, but you get used to it. I wasn’t down about it. It happens. Things happen in life. You’ve just got to learn to adjust to it."

What is your best strength?

"For one, just being a great teammate, not trying to get too up or down, just keep an even level and then I would say probably being able to high point the ball, just go up and get the ball. I’ve been doing that for a while, so those two things mainly."

Has anyone noticed that Kaplan has been hitting pretty darn well since his initial start? He began the year going 0 for 20 with 9 K’s. During that time he added 4 walks and two HBP’s to have an on base average of .230, a little better, but still terrible. Since then, in 39 official at bats, he’s got 13 hits (.333) and “only” 9 more K’s. His slugging average is .538 and his on base average, with another 11 walks and one more HBP, is .490, both GREAT numbers. It reminds me a lot of Hunter Williams last year who started the season 0 for 15. It’s probably time to move Lex back up in the order. In my opinion, he deserves it.

Roll Wave!!!

I am amused at some of the comments on other sites about our football recruiting and how last year Coach Fritz did not go after the “best” players, but somehow aimed at “just good enough” based on his Sunbelt and 1AA experience. By my count, at one point or another, he offered at least 75 kids in Louisiana, including virtually everyone included in anyone’s “top 50.” They chose to go elsewhere. Overall, we offered at least 380 kids, 2/3rds of whom had P5 offers also. If one remembers our first weekend of visits, we had numerous kids with “big time” offers, but only snared a couple with “lesser” offers. So, at least in my mind, he can be accused of “not closing the deal” on “top end” players, but that he didn’t offer them, visit them, and try to sign them doesn’t pass the reasonableness test to me.

Some say he’s doing a “better job” this year though we don’t have any known commitments to this point. Why? Because, like last year, we’ve offered a lot of players with other offers as well as some that the coaches like based on personal observation. I personally don’t see any difference. We’ve offered at least 120 or so (probably a lot more); we just don’t know the results. Coach Fritz has acknowledged we need to sign better players. That’s obvious. What’s less obvious, and the data I’m looking at doesn’t support, is that he didn’t try for better players last year, or for that matter, during his brief period as head coach before signing day in 2016.

He’s pitching what the school has to offer—academics which many kids don’t care about; a conference which may be the best of the G5, but isn’t P5; facilities, which, while improved, are far from the best, even in the G5; the opportunity to turn Tulane football around, which isn’t a certainty in anyone’s mind; and a city that, while many of us love it, has quite a few detractors, and isn’t for everyone.

Offering kids and signing them are too far different things and the lack of signings is not necessarily indication of a lack of effort. Hopefully, our signings will soon match the coaches' efforts.

Roll Wave!!!

Does anyone know the status of Hunter Hope?

Thanks

Roll Wave!!!

I like to talk about coaches being paranoid, but I engaged in media paranoia last week when I complained about spring practice being closed except for the final 30 minutes. It turns out they were just talking about videos. Cameras are not allowed to shoot until the last 30 minutes, which actually is a media friendly policy compared to most schools that allow cameras in for the first 15 minutes or so, then force television types to wait until the end of practice an hour-and-a-half later for interviews.

I have been cleared to cover practice from the beginning. I still think fans should be allowed in, but that's not going to happen.

I got there about 9:30 today just in time to see the quarterbacks throw to wide receivers in one-on-one battles with DBs. Glen Cuiellette and Johnathan Brantley both overthrew receivers on deep balls,with Cuiellette missing Terren Encalade in the end zone and Brantley misfiring for Darnell Mooney against decent coverage by Eric Lewis. Jonathan Banks, who has a live arm, connected with someone (I didn't catch the number on a crossing route for a touchdown.

They went to 7-on-7 work next (it was a shorts and pads day) with the three scholarship quarterbacks each getting three reps in a row. Donnie Lewis had perfect coverage on a deep throw from Brantley to Jabril Clewis that landed incomplete. Banks hooked up with Darius Bradwell for a short gain on the sideline, threw slightly behind Terren Encalade on a sideline route that Encalade dropped and threw a nice pass to Jacob Robertson, Jr. Cuiellette overthrew Clewis deep badly overthrew walk-on Rocky Ferony deep badly and hit Encalade over the middle.

In the next cycle, Brantley found walk-on Brian Newman over the middle, overthrew Ferony deep slightly and completed a pass to Bradwell. Banks threw incomplete to a well-covered Encalade, hit D.J. Owens on a crossing route and threw wide of Devin Glenn on a look-in. Cuiellette scrambled to his right and had a receiver (didn't catch the number) drop a pass on the sideline, threw the next one away on purpose when no one was open and completed a pass to Robertson on a comeback route near the sideline.

In the next cycle, Brantley completed passes to tight end Charles Jones and Mooney before Banks bounced a pass to an open Jones and had a perfect throw dropped by Bradwell on the sideline.

The first-team D in the 7-on-7 work had Donnie Lewis and Parry Nickerson at CB, Taris Shenall at nickelback, Jarrod Franklin and Roderic Teamer at safety and Rae Juan Marbley and Larry Bryant at linebacker. Zach Harris, who would have been in front of Bryant, is out with an unspecified injury but is taking mental reps.

Near the end of 7 on 7, they added an eighth defender, with Luke Jackson and Quinlan Carroll taking turns covering tight ends.

After 7 on 7, they broke up into individual position work, with Willie Fritz administering a tackling drill with the linebackers and DBs, the offensive linemen working on blocking, the quarterbacks and running backs working on the option, the wide receivers working on catching and the defensive linemen simply meeting.

The day ended with a short 11-on-11 period and Banks did not fare as well as he had in 1 on 1 or 7 on 7 because he is still processing the system. Early on, Shenall read his eyes and stepped in front of a short out pass, bringing it all the way back for a touchdown. Banks rebounded on the next play with a nice sideline pass to Ferony (I guarantee you Ferony has never been mentioned three times before in a practice report). Cuiellette, trying to show the coaches he can make the smart play, almost threw the ball into the stands when no one was open, not risking the chance for an interception. There were no touchdowns other than Shenall's.

Dontrell Hilliard looked good as a runner, although walk-on John Helow took him to the ground with a low dive that should have drawn a reprimand. Hilliard was fine, but plays like that in shorts are dangerous. They were not supposed to go to the ground.

The offensive line during the 11-on-11 works was Tyler Johnson at left tackle, John Washington at left guard, Dominique Briggs at center, Leeward Brown at right guard and Devon Johnson at left tackle. I'm not sure where Leglue was today, but he is the starter there and is not hurt.

Cornerback Thakarius Keyes and defensive end Robert Kennedy definitely will miss all of spring drills. Keyes had a lingering issue that required surgery (Fritz does not like to reveal specifics of injuries) a couple months ago. Fritz said Kennedy got hurt a few weeks ago. Andrew Hicks, still recovering from his second ACL surgery in a year, will not do any full speed work this spring and did not practice today. Center Junior Diaz, recovering from a broken ankle, is doing limited work and may be close to full speed after Tulane's spring break (the team is off next week before returning to practice the following week).

My impressions of the QBs: Banks has a live arm and physically is more imposing than Cuiellette or Brantley. The next step for him is to get comfortable in the offense, which will take more than three practices. Brantley still needs to improve his accuracy. Healthy for the first time since early last fall, he should get better. It is impossible to gauge Cuiellette until he participates in a live scrimmage because his issues are operating the option at game speed and making the right choice with the ball in his hand.

Other impressions: Clewis is really big, but I'm not sure about his speed. Receivers struggled to get open deep. There were a few too many drops. The receiving corps needs to get better during the spring. Charles Jones and Kendall Ardoin are an effective 1-2 punch at tight end. Stephon Huderson is a rock and already one of the stronger players on the team.

There were some high school coaches from the area watching practice today. Fritz and his staff are doing everything in their power to get better relations with the local coaches after recruiting New Orleans sparingly the past two years.

Anyone make it out there today or see any media. I've looked and can't find a thing which is odd since Tulane has don't a better job with promoting and post I g social media post-practice interviews.

The Rivals.com National Podcast is back this week, talking about the most notable topics in college football recruiting. Of interest to Tulane fans is our extended sit down with Tulane head coach Willie Fritz. We talk all things recruiting as well as his vision for the program.

For those who are new to podcasting, you can play the show below and skip around to find the time-stamped topics. For podcast pros, you can find the show on iTunes here. It's also available on Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn and other podcast platforms.

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Open: Kansas commits show out at the Rivals Camp in New Orleans, is it becoming more realistic that they hold onto the elite commits they have committed?
9:00: TCU adds a 4-star commit and is on the mind of several top players. Are the Frogs set up for a big year?
13:15: Georgia loses a commit from Rivals250 OL Max Wray, what happened?
15:45: Georgia added a commit from one of top players in the 2019 rankings so it's not all bad in Athens
19:00: Tulane head coach Willie Fritz joins the show to talk about recruiting at non-Power Five schools
38:35: Tweet of the Week
40:44: Rants and Recommendations

I have the offense up today on the front page.

I will get the defense up either tomorrow or Thursday, depending on my Advocate schedule covering UNO in the NCAA tournament. If UNO wins tonight, I will miss Tulane's opening spring practice, which sucks, but I'm pretty sure the Advocate will have somebody there. I asked Scott Kushner if he could do it, but he has Pelicans duties.

Because of a conflict I did not get to practice until 10:20, and practice ended 15 minutes earlier than scheduled at 10:30, so I saw very little.

I did get some inside info on the offseason warriors. The position that impressed the most in the conditioning program was the entire running back corps, with Stephon Huderson proving he is ridiculously strong and Sherman Badie and Dontrell Hilliard excelling in the running program.

Others who had good Januarys and Februarys: John Leglue, Jarrod Franklin. Roderic Teamer, Sean Wilson and Darnell Mooney.

Strength and conditioning coordinator Kyle Speer says the team is far ahead of its pace from last year, which is no surprise. Tulane did no running before spring practice a year ago because the total focus was on the weight room to get guys stronger. This year they did a combination of both. Speer said only a couple of guys had bad offseasons, and both of them are walk-ons who won't play.

Here is what Willie Fritz had to say:

What's it like to be back out here?

"It's good. Spring ball and preseason camp are really kind of my favorite times to coach and get an opportunity to work with everyone. You get back to the basic fundamentals--blocking, tackling, catching, all those kinds of things. I really enjoy this part of the season.

How big is the difference between last year at this time and this year?

"Night and day difference. Our guys understand what we're looking for. There were probably only five or six guys that had problems with what we were doing. They were the new guys, but they had a pretty good idea and sense of tempo and expectations, so it was a lot different."

How does it change your approach?

'It's good. You get more into offense, defense and the kicking game. You kind of start off on page 2 instead of page 1 and put things in a little bit quicker. Always during the spring you kind of experiment and look at a few other things that you'd like to do and see if it sticks and is good for you and you can use in the fall. If not, you move on to some other things."

What did you think of the energy the guys brought out here?

"It's good. It's always good in practice 1. The trick is practice 15, practice 12, can you have that kind of tempo? We have to do a good job of coaching that and making sure guys understand we want to do this every single day."

Do you envision Dominique Briggs as a center?

"He's going to play both (center and guard). He might even end up at tackle at some point in time. He has really good feet. He's experienced playing in the Kansas JCs. We're just happy that we've got really right now four guys who can snap it. Last year at one time we were kind of at one after a couple guys got hurt. You want to have a bunch of guys being able to snap the football."

What were your first impressions of Knighton?

"Good. It's hard for me to pinpoint one or two guys, but he's been really impressive with picking things up, and he should. He's a 3.7, 3.8 graduate of Miami, so he's going to be able pick this stuff up."

Jabril Clewis is a big guy.

"Yeah, I like that. He's a bigger receiver. One of the things I noticed going through the American is every team seems to have two or three tall guys (at receiver). We need to get bigger out there on the perimeter."

What does Jonathan Banks bring to the QB battle?

"Number one, he's got experience, so that's good. He's started 20-some-odd junior college games, so that's good. He went through a good program up at Kansas State, so he understands the Division I game and the attention to detail that you've got to have. He's learning right now. There's so much for the quarterback to know in any offense, particularly ours, and it's going to take awhile to figure out exactly what we're doing, but I thought he did a nice job."

Andrew DiRocco is no longer on the roster. Was that a mutual decision?

"He's going to be graduating here in the summer. It was a good move for him, so we're excited for him. We'll have three guys that will be competing for that spot (Randy Harvey, Coby Neenan and Merek Glover), so that's one thing we'll have to determine by the end of spring ball."

I had an interesting conversation with Mike Dunleavy the day after Tulane gave up 58 second-half points to Memphis last week. He was very honest about his players needing to get smarter on the floor to continue playing for him.

Here's the question and the entire quote as he got wound out:

You've been close in a lot of games recently. What is the next step to start coming away with wins?

"It’s a culmination. The two areas if you look at our team that we’re the weakest at, one we’re not a big team, so the rebounding differential on a nightly basis is something we have to try to make up, and the other one is mindset of players going from offense to defense. It’s like how quickly can you turn on that switch, and our guys haven’t done it as fast as I would like for them to get to it.

"I even had this conversation today with them, basically saying, look, I’m a pro guy and so I’m used to I make adjustments and tell guys what they have to work on and it kind of gets done. I’ve been over the last week talking in terms of transition defense and how we have to be so solid. In the NBA playoffs you have to have two-and-a-half to three guys back at all times. Otherwise you’re giving up easy buckets, and that’s what’s going to sink you. We didn’t do it. We have guys in corners just looking and not getting back. I said you are pushing me towards for next season saying OK, the only way I can get these guys to respond, if they do it in practice or whatever, you didn’t get back, sub somebody in, get over and just run to the point where your focus will totally change. If that’s what it takes, like Pavlov’s dog, if that’s what I have to do, that’s what I have to do.

"It’s really kind of hurt us, those areas. It’s a lot to do with the mental aspect of the game, and that’s a lot of what we’ve been trying to teach and get our guys to recognize and understand that you’ve got to be able to process the game faster. At every level that you go to play, whether you’re a good player or lot has a lot to do with your skill level, but a big part of it has to do with how fast you can process what’s going on around you. The superstar players in the NBA are the guys who see the game so slow. The best analogy I can give that everybody can understand is play a sport with your kids or your younger brother by five or six years, you can read their mind before they do anything. You know he’s going to make that pass from here to there. You see it so far in advance. NBA stars, that’s the one thing. He can just look at a situation and say that is going to happen. I can get a steal here, rotate and get a charge, get a block. You become an anticipator as opposed to a reactor, and that’s the big jump that we have to make.

"I told guys it’s going to be the key for you going forward whether you can play for me or not. You have to be able to process the game, the stuff that you do, when we do drill work, you have to get it, when we watch film, you get it, when we quiz you, you get it. Those are all steps of understanding, but you’ve also got to be able to process it on the floor, and if you can’t, then you’re not going to be able to play here."

Chase Solesky will not pitch for Tulane tomorrow at Nicholls State. He is being saved for the weekend series against Columbia.

Sam Bjorngjeld will start tomorrow.

After some quick research, I believe we are witnessing the worst start (record wise) through 15 games of any baseball team in Tulane history. In 1990, we started 5-10 to end 19-35. In 1993, we started 5-10 again enroute to a 23-31 record. Our best start? 15-0 to start the season in 1966. We played a number of "door stops" during that streak, however.

Hopefully we can turn it around this year, but history is not on our side based on past, not as bad, starts.

Roll Wave!!!

Tulane released its full spring practice schedule on Wednesday, confirming its first workout will be March 17 and the spring game will be April 22.

The Wave also will practice March 18, 21, 23 and 24 before taking a week off for spring break. The rest of the workouts will be April 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18 and 20.

The dates are pretty similar to a year ago, when Tulane started March 14 and finished April 16. Fritz said in December he wanted the workouts to begin as late as possible to allow injured players to heal on his depth-shy team.

The time for the spring game has not been determined.

I went with conventional wisdom for my story on the front page, but Jeremy Montalbano tweeted to me that he hoped to be playing again in May. He underwent surgery to repair a fractured ankle yesterday and can began the rehab process immediately.

I'm largely staying away from the controversy on whether it was an illegal play by West Virginia for three reasons: 1) I wasn't there. 2) The umpires ruled it legal and 3) It really doesn't matter.

After going 0-4 last week, a 2-2 week was obviously an improvement. But the humiliating performance on Sunday took off any “glow” generated by the two game winning streak. And the loss of Mantalbano could spell “doom” for a season which, though still early, was already in jeopardy.

Montalbano had been outperforming all expectations defensively, and though he hadn’t been hitting much, his towering home run in Sunday’s game gave hope for his season at the plate. His loss could be hard to overcome at a position with no depth. Since Jonathan Artigues stepped in at catcher, I can only assume Paul Gozzo is unable to play. To the best of my knowledge Artigues is a “life-time” infielder with no catching experience; I’d be happy to be wrong on that. Regardless, Montalbano hadn’t caught every inning because we had other good options.

Despite Friday’s game in which, for the first time this season, we hit over .250 as a team for an entire game, we batted .240 for the week (31-129). That raised our season’s batting average to .232. We’re still swinging at a lot of bad pitches and taking too many good pitches early in the count. And we’re striking out at an alarming rate (58% of the time) when we get to two-strikes. That, by the way, accounts for almost the entire statistical difference between our hitting this year and last.

Defensively, Sunday marked the end of a pretty good run defensively. Along with the four errors, DeHart dropped a catchable fly in the first inning that was ruled a double and Witherspoon and Brown played a likely double into an inside the park home run. All Access didn’t show Massey’s wild pickoff attempt to first base but the announcer said he airmailed it over Williams’ head. He’d already done that to the plate, so it wasn’t that big a surprise. Anyway you look at it, defense was very shoddy on Sunday.

Brown’s inexplicably aggressive try for third on a short passed ball when we were down 4-0 was just another in a series of bad baseball by veteran players. It shouldn’t be happening. I don’t know if the 3rd base coach was waving him over or he did it on his own. Regardless, too slow to react and then a bad decision to go.

Other than the shutout by France and Hogan on Saturday, and Solesky’s performance on Wednesday, there is not much to like about our pitching this week. Frankly, Merrill looks out of shape to me. Of course, I haven’t seen him in person, but on “All Access” he looks thick and sluggish. After three innings or so, he seems to be getting the ball up, a problem most of our pitchers exhibit from pitch #1. At least on Sunday we found out why Coach Jewett hasn’t been using some of our guys; they just aren’t very good, even matched against replacement hitters late in the game. As a staff, we have an ERA of 5.89 and have walked more (70) than we’ve struck out (63). That’s REALLY BAD. I do find Oakley interesting. Yes, he’s only pitched in “mop up” situations and for only three innings, but he’s struck out 4 and hasn’t allowed any hits. Of course, he’s also walked 5 in those three innings and is barely holding on most of the time, though, as yet, he hasn’t allowed a run. Considering some of the alternatives, he will probably be getting more opportunities. In fact, if our pitching doesn’t improve, they’ll all be getting a lot of opportunities.

Stepping back from yesterday, however, I remember when our 2005 team was “ten-run-ruled” by Memphis late in the season, so one game does not mean a whole lot. So Sunday doesn’t count any more than any other game. Of course, the same can be said for Saturday. There is no way to put a good light on our 3-8 start against teams with a combined record of 42-51 when playing against schools not named “Tulane.” We’re digging a very deep hole and even a solid winning streak in the next couple of weeks at home will not get our RPI up to even the 150 range; home wins don’t count much.

But, I think it is far too early to call for the coach’s scalp. Performance is important and we’re not seeing it. But some degree of patience is also necessary. On the other hand, I don’t like some of the moves Coach Jewett has made and his incessant use of cliché’s and overused platitudes is getting on my nerves. But, neither are firing offenses, of course. Unlike some who don’t think he knows what he is doing, I think he does. Whether he is doing the “right” things is another matter and will unfold as the season progresses. I have no problem reassessing his performance at year’s end, but Massey’s inexplicable loss of confidence and the pitiable bullpen he inherited are not, to me, wholly on Coach Jewett. If we end up 15-40, I’ll probably reassess my opinion.

Still, I'm hoping for a solid turn around at some point, though, with the possible season-ending injury to Montalbano, the task is now much tougher.


Roll Wave!!!

I wrote all week (primarily in tweets) that the American Athletic Conference basketball tournament started on Wednesday. That's on me.

When it finally cracked my thick skull that the tournament was starting Thursday last night, I called the Advocate, talked to an editor and asked him to fix it in my story. He said it would be fixed. Today I noticed they forgot to do it. That's on them.

OK, just venting.

For the first time in a long time, the Advocate butchered my senior day feature on Malik Morgan and Ryan Smith, taking out the Smith part entirely and getting rid of half of the Morgan stuff.

I understand the editorial decision because Tulane basketball has zero interest at the moment, but I put the full story I wrote on the front page of this site.

In its most complete performance of the year, Tulane shut out West Virginia 6-0 today behind a sterling performance from starting pitcher J.P. France, excellent defense and patient hitting. There was really nothing to complain about, and the Wave will go for a much needed sweep tomorrow.

A few notes before some quotes.

Grant Witherspoon is 14 for 22 in his last six games and has reached base 19 times in 27 plate appearances.

Tulane's starters had inexplicably given up 32 runs in 34 2/3 innings in their first seven weekend starts, but France gave up none in seven innings today.

Jack Hogan looked good in two innings of relief and has not given up a run in 4 2/3 innings at Turchin Stadium covering two appearances.

The Wave manufactured some runs, which is not its specialty, scoring six times despite having only six hits, five of them singles. Jarret Dehart had two sacrifice flies and Tulane had three overall.

TRAVIS JEWETT

What did you think of France's performance today?

"Like you and I talked about yesterday (it showed) the value of a strike. His pitch count at one point was like 65 in the sixth inning or something, so he was efficient with his pitches, he attacked, he was getting ahead and we played good defense behind him. He was on attack. Like he told me after the game, I told you I got your back in this one because he didn't have a very good outing in California (allowing eight run-in three innings in a 14-1 loss to UCSB last Saturday). His response is really what life is. It's 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond to it. He showed that tonight, and it's just two games, but our kids are showing a little bit of that right now, too."

You only had six hits but scored six runs, taking advantage of enough opportunities to get a comfortable margin and committing no errors. Was this a complete performance?

"All in all it was good all the way around. You mentioned only six hits, but the thing we were able to do was have some control of the strike zone. We ran the starter's pitch count up early. We weren't trying to be overly aggressive on the bases. We were just trying to run his count up early, got some free runners and some hits and some sacrifice flies on top of that. It allowed us to execute our offense and score some runs."

Grant Witherspoon really has it going.

"He made a big statement tonight. He grounded out to the pitcher, and we all were in like, 'Spoon's human.' What he did, and it says a lot about him and what he stands for, he hit a comebacker to the pitcher and he ran to first base as hard as he could. That's culture. That's team. That's who he is. We all need to play like that. It made me smile because it said a lot. He basically took his frustration out on the ground, so to speak, and he almost made the kid throw it away. It's speed pressure. He just plays a complete game, and he's on it right now."

Jack Hogan has looked good here both times. What did you like about him in the last two innings?

"He attacked the zone. He threw his fastball to both sides and actually showed a really good breaking ball tonight, something that he could land and something that he could get them to chase. He's been working hard. Last night we got him up a couple of times and never were able to insert him in the game, but as we are searching for those roles in the bullpen, especially where it's kind of been, outings like that will get you the next one. He was in complete control tonight."

So the most impressive stat you saw today was the two walks your pitchers issued?

"Yeah. Last night we walked 11 and won, and that's not going to happen very often. You're not going to win that game, but when you minimize the freebies and play solid defense and command the strike zone, we'll have a chance to be successful."

The key for Ross Massey tomorrow will be getting the ball over the plate. Do you feel better about him?

"Yeah I do. From his first outing here to his outing in Santa Barbara, it wasn't perfect but it certainly was a move forward, and moving forward is what everybody's trying to do. We are just trying to improve. I anticipate, because I'm a positive thinker, is him being in control tomorrow. It doesn't mean he can't walk anybody, but he has to be around the zone and trust his stuff. I see that happening tomorrow."

What does it mean to win the first two games of a series against a good team like West Virginia?

"It's a big deal. It's not so much who we're playing against. We're kind of playing against ourselves at this point. We certainly respect them a great deal. They have a nice team, and for us to come out and elevate our game and have success against a quality team, it's kind of a two-sided sword because it's a win-win both ways. We can do it against good competition, too. They are a tough team. They'll come back, and we can keep talking about getting to the middle, never too high and never too low. We have to enjoy this tonight, and I told the kids this morning, don't ever not enjoy winning because wins are hard to come by as we were obviously finding ourselves there for a little bit. But we have to have a short memory, enjoy it tonight and try to come out and put an exclamation point on this series."

It's obviously been a brutal year for the Tulane basketball team, but Malik Morgan has developed into a good playmaker in his senior year. His shooting percentage was not what he expected, and his turnover rate was higher than desirable, but he improves as the year went along.

After practice on Friday, he talked about his two-year Tulane career after transferring from LSU.

You’ve been here for three years and played the last two after sitting out as a transfer. What are your thoughts when you look back on your career here?

“I feel like I’ve had a great career at Tulane. I really was able to establish myself in college basketball, and it’s just been a fun ride. I’ve been playing with different people, different coaching systems, but my college experience has been pretty good.”

Did you have two coaches at LSU, too?

“I signed under Trent (Johnson), and he left before I got there, so I’ve basically had four coaches in five years. Every one of them had much different systems.”

The 30-foot shot you hit at the end of the first overtime against Temple, it looked like you measured it perfectly. What were you thinking as you released it?

“I was actually kind of surprised. I really thought they were going to foul us before we could get the shot off, but I kind of shoot those shots after every practice. I shoot them before the game, and I’ve actually been shooting that since high school. I was able to get a good rhythm, and I lined it up right.”

You never know whether a shot is going in when you take it from that far away, but how did you feel when it was in the air?

“I thought it was going left a little bit, and when it went in, I was pumped.”

It’s the story of this team that you guys still lost after that shot. How frustrating has the won-loss portion of your two playing years been?

“The win-loss thing hurts my pride a little bit because we definitely are better than what our numbers say. I feel like we’re still just a team that’s right on the bubble for a breakthrough. I still feel like that with only one, two, three games left. I feel like we come in and work every day and sooner or later it will pay off for the program.”

How significant would it be to get a win over Tulsa on Senior Day? There haven’t been a lot of wins on senior days around here (five losses in a row), and the bonus is you know you would be facing Tulsa again in three days in the first round of the AAC tournament if you beat them.

“It would be great momentum for our team getting a home win knowing it was our last one and then going into the conference tournament and having a chance to knock off a team that we just played. It would be great for us. Sooner or later something is going to change.”

Against Memphis, it was another case where the team played well in the first half and then everything went wrong. What happened?

“We just fell apart on our coverages. We knew Memphis was going to be a strong transition team and a strong rebounding team. We got away from what we did in the first half and it hurt us in the end.”

What do you feel is the best part of your game?

“Creating. I just create looks for myself and my teammates (his team-high 125 assists are nearly double second-place Ray Ona Embo’s 66). That’s one of the stronger parts of my game, and my rebounding (his 5.9 average is second to Cam Reynolds’ 6.8) is also pretty good from a guard’s standpoint. I really just like to work with the ball in my hand, and I feel like I can get anybody on my team open at any time. I feel like they are going to have attention drawn to me.”

How do you feel the team has adapted to coach Dunleavy’s system this year, and what is the potential for the future?

“I definitely foresee a breakthrough for the program in the future. Dunleavy’s a great coach and has a great knowledge for the game, and his staff also has a great knowledge for the game. They’ve been able to teach me a lot in a couple of months. I learned more from them in this in this whole program, and the knowledge that they have is going to be easy to share for the next group coming in.”

What have they taught you?

“Just how to be a smarter player. From a standpoint of being a playmaker, sometimes you have to make passes in a tight window, and they made me learn sometimes that window isn’t the right way.”

What is your favorite game since you’ve been here?

“The Memphis game last year. I hit another big shot off of the backboard, and that kind of sealed the deal for that home win. And that game at Temple I felt was a pretty good game for me, too.”

I couldn’t watch any of the games this past week, so it is hard to make judgements on anything other than the numbers. I did listen to the games, although, other than Graf, the play-by-play guys were so bad I couldn’t tell what was being thrown and where or how well balls were hit. I couldn’t even them to recognize a fastball from a change-up, let alone distinguishing a curve from anything else. Regardless, going 0-4 isn’t good.

We’ve only played seven game (roughly 13% of the season), but things may be imploding. We’ve lost six in a row, some quite badly, and that’s the first time since we did it in both 2000 and 2002. Of course we went to regionals in both of those years sandwiched around a world series appearance, so all is not lost… yet.

However, a lot of people have given up on the coach already, including some folks whose baseball opinions I respect. But I think it’s still a little early. Nonetheless, the season is moving along quickly and it won’t be much longer at this rate that we’ll be all but mathematically eliminated from an “at large” post season bid. We’ve may have a lot of tougher opponents in front of us than we do behind us.

Whether it’s the coach or the confirmation of pre-season concerns is hard to tell. I’m all for dressing neatly, representing the school well, and respecting the flag—maybe more so than most—but I don’t like what I’m hearing about the “nit-picking” on some of these issues. To me, there is a limit. And baseball, like most sports, is as much a “mind game” as one based on physical ability.

Why Merrill, France, and Massey have performed so poorly is disconcerting to say the least. Is it coaching? Attitude? Something else? Who knows? But they are not performing anywhere close to expectations. Between them they’ve averaged less than 5 innings per start and have a combined ERA of 7.14 while walking 21 in 29 innings and allowing opponents to hit .319. That’s not bad pitching; it’s horrible pitching.

Our bullpen was suspect coming in and it’s proving to be just that. But take out a performance here and there and it wouldn’t appear as bad; not good, just not horrific. Still, it needs to be a lot better.

Montalbano has been surprisingly good behind the plate and our shortstops have played pretty well defensively, but the catcher and shortstop positions have not come close to replacing Alemais and Rogers at the plate. I doubt many thought they would. But our defense as a whole has been inconsistent. We’re fielding at a .963 clip, the worst in years, and the mistakes and misjudgments in the outfield are getting to be a real problem. We’ve already allowed 8 unearned runs, more than one per game on average.

Everyone knew going in that several of our players were very streaky, “all or nothing” kind of hitters. So far, too many have settled in on the “nothing” part of the equation. Some performances are truly mystifying, especially with not being able to see them these last four games. Rowland hit well last year in limited appearances, but hit only .182 playing all summer. He was then, according to reports, our best hitter in the fall and this spring but during the season thus far, is hitting .125 with 6 strikeouts and 0 walks in 16 at bats. Kaplan has gone the other way; he didn’t hit particularly well last season (.253), then batted .357 this summer, and is 1 for 21 in our first seven games. Williams (.400), Witherspoon (.357), and DeHart (.320) are hitting well, but the rest of the team is hitting a combined .151.

But, there are 18 games left before the conference season begins. Many had hoped for a 20-5 start which is obviously not going to happen. It will take a 14-4 recovery just to get to 15-10. That may be possible, but not without a major turnaround in quality of play. Here’s hoping.

Roll Wave!!!

Off to its first 1-3 start since 1993, Tulane desperately needs to get on track this weekend at UCSB, which also is 1-3 after going to the College World Series last year.

Actually, desperate is too strong a word this early in the season, but the Wave really could use some wins this weekend.

Here's what coach Travis Jewett had to say a day after the Wave's 8-5 loss to Southeastern:

You had one bad inning basically last night. What are you takeaway from the loss?

"Gosh darn it, you're so right. It was like there was some more better, you know what I mean, but there just wasn't enough of better. We were up 5-2 in the 7th, and with what he had teed up out there, the Bjorngjeld to Issa to Andrews ready sitting out there, it was all to be had, but when you give up a crooked number--six in one inning--it's kind of hard to recover from that.

"I'm trying to find the good in things. I've told the kids I don't want to be that coach when every time something goes bad, all we do is focus on that and lose sight of things we are doing well. Yesterday, Chase Solesky gets his first college start, and I just watched him closely. I watched his every move. He was breathing well, his body language was outstanding, his attack was good. He certainly gave us a quality start, so that's a positive. Colletti gets out there for the first time and his arm was slinging well and he was doing it. The learning moment for him was when you're up 5-2 in the 7th inning and you get to face one better--it was predetermined we were going to Bjorngjeld for the three batters coming up because the splits from their career say Colletti struggles a little bit more against lefties actually than he does against righties and Sam is good. We had it all kind of teed up, and then we got a full count, and instead of just having the ball actually trying to hit his bat, don't steer away from it, we get a large miss up and away, no even flinch by the batter. The words invite contact have to be understandable. Even if he would have hit it, who cares? So then we made the matchup move that we thought was right, and poor Sammy didn't get anybody out.

"We actually tried to do some damage control to keep it where it was at, and they got a big two-out knock. Again, missed the location on the wrong side of the plate. and when you do that in this game, you are going to pay for it. But there were some better things. Willsey had some good at-bats and Hope was able to stay over. His best at-bat was not even the homer. It was a two-strike right on right line drive over the second baseman's head that got me excited. I just tried to tell him that his flight patterns were in the big side of the field, so there were some positives for both those guys to find some barrels last night. Obviously Country leaving the yard twice to the opposite field was big and he got another base hit, and then Sal Gozzo hit a line drive that got caught by the right fielder in the ninth inning, but my whole point is in 37 at-bats, we had what I would call eight quality at-bats. Eight. And if you do the math there, it's like 21.6 percent quality at-bats. So 11 more strikeouts, some good but the other 18 of those left-over at-bats were what we call one-flight type trajectory on the board, which you and I could field them bare-handed or they were that same kind of energy up in the air with just no pressure. There weren't a lot of hard ground balls or line drives, so better but yet still couldn't find a way to finish it.

"I don't know if this ever happened to me, not me, but baseball that I've seen, and I've seen a lot of games at a bunch of different levels. Last night we had 37 at-bats, and we did not take one swing with a runner in scoring position. Zero. We either solo homered--three times--and then we had a two-run homer with a runner on first, but other than those at-bats, we never had an at-bat where there was a runner on second or third with a batter's feet in the batter's box. It's like five runs, which was better, nine hits, which was our season high I believe. There's still too many empties.

"I will tell you we've gotten zero out of our leadoff spot after four games. We moved Jarret DeHart there because he's hot and seeing it well and using the other part of the field. We just let Kaplan move down (to 5th). It was not a demotion, I told him, but trying early in the season to get the feel for a lineup. And then Jarret had a little bit of rough night, but in four games there hasn't been any table-setting going on, so to speak."

Are you going to go back to Kaplan as the leadoff hitter at UCSB?

"I haven't decided. I'm still kind of picking and prodding at it. You could even see a Sal Gozzo, especially against right-handed pitching. He's up at the plate competing for us. Whatever his average says, I don't even know, but his at-bats are pretty good. He's not overmatched, he can bunt, he can leg out a single, he can steal bags. He can be another candidate and right now his heartbeat tells me he'd be able to handle it if we anoint him at that position. I just don't quite know actually.

UCSB has 11 hits and three runs total in its last three games, putting your struggles in perspective. How big a series is this to get on track?

"It's huge. It's huge. I was kind of hopeful last night that we were going to maybe step away from GFATS here and hunker down a little bit on the road, but anytime you can travel across the country for the first time and go through that and be together for four days in a hotel, I'm hopeful that will be a good trip. I'm hopeful that will be a good trip and I expect the kids to play well, I do. Their obviously a good team and we're a good team.

"Last night I told the kids on the bus, I don't like to talk them directly after games too much because high or low, I don't want emotions to get in the way, but I was able to think about some things, and 1-3, four games in, long season. I told them that there are not a lot of 1-3 people on this bus. I don't think anybody's accustomed to it from the coaching staff to the players. Our expectations are higher than that. We're better people than that. We've invested larger than that. We're more capable than that. Tough times don't last, but tough people do. We just have to get out here today and get better. Some guys have to look themselves in the mirror a little bit, too, and the coaching staff as well. Are we training these guys the right way and are there things we need to adjust to try to make the training segments more like games? Are we competing enough in the training so that when we get into the batter's box, we're a little bit more ready or just things like that. Today will be a big day and then we'll get a chance to work out there in California when we land and get on some dirt and grass and get ourselves ready to play."

Ross Massey had never walked more than two guys in a game until Sunday, when he walked six in three innings. What needs to happen for him to regain his control when his whole career has been based on impeccable control and being mature beyond his years?

"Yeah, he's a touch-feel guy. The mature-beyond-his-years has not changed. That's still there. He's handling this little glitch well. He has to be able to leave the bullpen and cross the white line and trust his training and he's just got to go out there and do what he's done. It's just a little hiccup. That's why we started him on Sunday because we thought there was a little bit something going on with his mechanics. We're going to run him back out there, I'll tell you that. And the game that he pitched, even though he walked six guys, I could have had a quicker trigger, but no way, no way, no way, no way. I was showing my confidence and our confidence as a coaching staff in him. He just needs to get his stuff in the zone and trust his stuff. He's experienced a lot of success and just has to rely on it. He has a lot of people that are behind him and support him. We still trust in what he does. He's gonna have to completely just explode for me to not continue to push him out there because I just like the kid and trust him."

Will it be the same rotation this weekend?

"Yes. Merrill, France, Massey."

I think Tulane will win tonight, but the key will be not making any soft drives to the rim against maybe the premier shot blocker in the country in 7-foot-1, 235-pound senior center Andre Washington.

Washington, a bench warmer at Wake Forest for three years, transferred to ECU and sat out last year before becoming eligible. He clearly could have had a terrific career if he had started there instead of trying to play in the ACC and getting lost in the shuffle. Tacko Fall will probably be the AAC defensive player of the year, but Washington absolutely, positively deserves it over him. My favorite stat of the year: Fall is 135 for 171 in games not involving ECU and 1 for 13 in the two games against ECU, going 0 for 6 in the first meeting and 1 for 7 in the second meeting. He has not missed more than four shots in any other game this year.

As Malik Morgan stated in my preview for The Advocate, what makes Washington tough is his lateral quickness for a big man. He is light on his feet and has excellent timing. Morgan said he though he had gotten by Washington for a lay-up in the first meeting two weeks ago, but Washington came from behind and blocked it from the top. That was one of five blocks on the day--two against Ryan Smith, one against Ray Ona Embo, one against Melvin Frazier and the Morgan one. He also altered several more shots, including one when he slapped the glass and caused the rim to vibrate, an obvious goal tending the refs missed.

As bad as ECU is, the Pirates have been hard to score on all year, ranking seventh in field goal percentage defense. They are athletic and big defensively.

The flip side is they are awful offensively. All five of their leading scorers shoot worse than 40 percent, and aside from going 12 for 21 against Tulane from 3-point range in an outlier performance, they are brutal from 3-point range.

If Tulane passes as well as it has the last two games, it will hit enough shots to win unless too many guys think they can challenge Washington at the rim.

Frazier in particular has been terrific in the last two games. Yesterday Mike Dunleavy talked about how Frazier repeatedly was able to finish with his left hand at the basket against South Florida, something the coaches have been working on all year but he could not do until recently. I doubt his 3s will fall tonight like they did against USF, but he is becoming a complete player near the end of his sophomore year.

Tulane's basketball SID has in his notes that the 66.3 percent shooting against USF was the Wave's best in a game since December of 1995 when Jerald Honeycutt and company hit 66.6 percent against Mount St. Mary's. That was the year after Tulane's last NCAA tournament appearance.

As I wrote last week, it's very important for Tulane to end the regular season on a three-game home winning streak. I've seen others talk about running the table, but I'll be surprised if the Wave wins at either Temple or Memphis after only beating USF, one of the worst teams I've ever seen, in league play. Temple, maybe. Memphis, though not a great team, is a bad matchup for Tulane athletically.

But first things first. The game tonight is one Ed Conroy's teams lost repeatedly in the last two years as they laid eggs against bad teams at home. Unlike USF, ECU is good enough to beat Tulane if the Wave does not play well. The Pirates are 0-9 on opponents' home courts this year, and Tulane really needs to make it 0 for 10 tonight.

I notice some people (other sites) are ready to fire the coach after the first three games and, heck, why not? The coach struck out 30 times this weekend, made 4 errors in one game, and walked nine more in another. Doesn’t he know how to play the game?

Ok. On a more serious note, I am disappointed in the weekend. I thought we’d sweep and was mentally prepared to go 2-1. I did not foresee going 1-2, but three games do not a season make. But I have some early observations. Going in, everyone was concerned about who would play shortstop. Who would be the catcher? Who would be our pitchers, 4-10, and could our hitters cut down on the strikeouts? The only difference in evaluating the various views was normally the priority of the concerns. So let’s look at them one by one through three games (with 52 yet to play). It’s a long season!!!

At shortstop, both Sal Gozzo and Cody Hoese looked good defensively. Gozzo did throw away the back end of a double play, but both kids made some very nice plays on slow rollers directly at them—tough plays. They both appear to have some range also. While neither looked particularly daunting at the plate, they appeared more comfortable than several of our “veterans.” Gozzo went 2 for 7 and Hoese went 1 for 5, so it wasn’t a lost weekend for either of them. If they hit a combined .250 and continue to play well defensively, shortstop will not be a major issue.

At catcher, most were concerned on the defensive end since we lost, arguably, the best defensive catcher in Tulane history. But, Mantalbano, bad arm and all, looked great. No passed balls only one wild pitch; great coverage of low pitches; and he threw out 5 of 7 attempted base stealers. Skipping the ball off the hard turf seemed to work for him. Even Rogers didn’t do better than that. And he hit .333 for the weekend, and almost salvaged the second game Saturday with a ball that curved just a few feet foul from being a “walk off” HR If he remains healthy, I’m no longer concerned about catcher.

As far as pitching, we got pretty much what we expected from Merrill and France. Merrill clearly struggled but his “guts” and determination were evident throughout his stint. France tired after about six innings, but that is to be expected early in the season. Massey, however, is a legitimate concern. As the season approached, there was word that he was having control problems. That’s not good. He simply does not have overpowering stuff and his success is built on control. But, rather than missing by a few inches, he’s missing by feet to walk far too many. He’s then having to come in with what appear to be “batting practice” fastballs/curves. I fear both his mechanics and “head” need significant adjustments if we’re to see the pitcher we saw last year. We’re no longer just looking for a 4th/5th starter; we need Massey to get straightened out to have a legitimate 3rd weekend starter. To me, this has jumped to our number one issue. His game against Santa Barbara next weekend could tell us a lot.

Finding additional starters, of course, is still a concern, but our 4-10 pitchers started to show some evidence of the direction we are going. A bunch of guys threw an inning or two this weekend, generally good. I thought Andrews looked very good in his one inning, but I’m not ready to award him the “Fireman of the Year” trophy. His velocity was good but, from the centerfield camera, I didn’t see the movement I’d hoped for. Yet, he only faced three batters at a critical time, fanned one, got an easy out, and got another one on a hard-hit ball. Hard to complain! I also thought both Solesky and Hogan looked really good in their first appearances. Gillies was terrible with the same control problems he exhibited in high school. And Bjornfjeld, Price, and Issa, while not allowing any earned runs, didn’t show me much. Have to wait and see on them. Good start, however. Tuesday night should be interesting. We have five more pitchers who did not pitch this weekend and I’d guess one of them will get the start against SELA.

At bat, Rowland, Hope, Kaplan, and Willsey went a combined 1 for 34 with 16 strikeouts. Most pitchers would hit much better and it can’t get a lot worse. As a group they hit .264 last year, not great but preferable to what we saw this weekend. So I expect improvement, but none of them looked comfortable at the plate. And, though he went a less than respectable 3-13 (.231), Witherspoon looked as bad as the foregoing, pulling off of the plate even against right handers. I don’t recall that last year. On the positive side, DeHart, Montalbano, and Williams hit a combined .394 (13-33) and generally looked good. But, as a team, 30 strikeouts in 26 innings is truly horrendous. A big problem is we’re still taking too many good pitches early and swinging at too many bad ones, leading to getting behind. At one point Willsey swung at the first pitch a foot off the plate and then took the next one right down the middle to go 0-2, before fanning on a “hat-high” fastball. We’re hitting .346 before getting to two strikes and an unbelievable .068 with two strikes (3 for 44). So, for all Jewett’s emphasis on protecting the plate, we’re actually “K-ing” over two-thirds of the time when we get to two-strikes. That’s unbelievable.

Defensively, we made too many errors and too many bad plays. DeHart dropped a line drive In left-field (lost in the lights?) and Brown badly misplayed what would have been a tough chance on a double over his head, but it was a play that many outfielders would have made. Hope made a couple of errors in the three games, which is uncharacteristic. Willsey, of course, made the defensive play of the weekend on a ball he corralled in the outfield and threw the runner out at first from his back. Great play!! Our infield defense should be fine; the outfield? Not so sure.

Base running was a “mixed bag.” Last year, we stole 55 bases, just under 1 per game, with Alemais (19) and Rogers (13) accounting for 32 of them. We got three this weekend with Willsey accounting for two of them. Considering he didn’t even attempt a steal last year, that’s good. And, he made a brilliant read to steal third when the pitcher paid virtually no attention to him on second base. Heads up play!!!. Of course, Kaplan being picked off first in the 8th inning down by five against Army was inexcusable and pretty much negates any other positive base running exploits by the team. That’s not something that should ever happen to a senior.

The next four road games this week, SELA and UCSB (three times), will give us more info on the team, and, hopefully, a more positive view.

Roll Wave!!!!

The Advocate does not have a lot of space today, so the story that will be in the paper and run online is not very long. I added quite a bit with quotes from DeHart and Hunter Williams for my front page. It's well worth the read if you're into Tulane baseball.

Jewett kind of went off on the team after the game, but he was measured in his approach even if the words indicate otherwise. I agree with him 100 percent. Tulane cannot be a good team and strike out as much as it does even though that formula worked last year. Remember, Alemais struck out less than anyone else last year and Rogers had the best on-base percentage of the regulars. Without them, being successful with Tulane's whiff ratio is unsustainable.

Most of the other signs this weekend were good. The freshmen look like they can play, including the pitchers, and Montalbano will be fine defensively. Massey needs to figure out his control issues, something Duester never did a year ago, and this team has to start hitting well and not looking so inept on big swings that connect with air.