NEW ORLEANS ? Tulane sophomore right-hander Taylor Rogers shut down New Orleans for six innings, and Anthony Scelfo had a two-run home run as the Green Wave took an 8-4 win on Wednesday at Maestri Field.
Scelfo finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored, and Drew Allain added a two-run shot to help Tulane (23-9-1) snap a three-game losing skid against UNO (20-10). The Green Wave had 12 hits overall.
But Rodgers (2-0) was the story in front of a season-high crowd of 908 at Maestri Field.
The Round Rock, Texas product struck out a career-high nine and allowed just two hits and one run. The Privateers got two runs off reliever Nick Pepitone in the seventh inning, but Rob Segedin came in and closed the door over the final 2 1/3 innings.
“They say good pitching beats good hitting and that was the case tonight,” said UNO head coach Tom Walter. “I thought Rogers and Segedin were outstanding. I was very impressed with both of them.”
Matt Brown (2-2) got the loss after giving up seven hits and six runs in 3 1/3 innings. Brown, who had four strikeouts, had won his previous two mid-week starts.
However, the right-hander surrendered an RBI double to Warren McFadden in the second before Scelfo ripped a line-drive home run over the left-center field wall in the third that made it 3-0.
Tulane added a four-spot in the fourth to make it 7-0 before T.J. Baxter finally got UNO on the board with an opposite-field home run to left in the bottom of the frame.
UNO tied a season low with six hits, though Nick Schwaner and Jeff Lanning each extended their hitting streaks to 11 games each. Lanning got his lone hit on a ninth-inning solo home run.
“We struck out 13 times tonight and that is too many,” Walter said. “We were chasing too many pitches outside the zone, but give Tulane credit. Rogers and Segedin both had good breaking balls.”
UNO will host Western Kentucky at 6:30 p.m. on Friday in Sun Belt Conference play.
