Privateers Battle Tulane for First NBC Cup Starting Tuesday

TULANE (6-1) VS NEW ORLEANS (4-3)
GAME 8-9 | NEW ORLEANS, LA. | MAESTRI FIELD (TUE), GREER FIELD (WED)
TUESDAY 6:30 PM | WEDNESDAY 6:30 PM

GAME NOTES | AUDIO/VIDEO | LIVE STATS | TWITTER
 
THE GAME:
The New Orleans Privateers baseball team (4-3) will battle the Tulane Green Wave (6-1) for the First NBC Cup in a home-and-home midweek series. Tuesday's game will be played at Maestri Field while the return trip to Greer Field at Turchin Stadium will be on Wednesday. Both games are slated for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch.
 
The Privateers are coming off a perfect weekend at the MLB Urban Youth Invitational where they swept through Alcorn State, Southern, and Grambling. On the weekend, New Orleans gave up just five runs (three earned). Jonathan Santana drove in four runs and smashed the Privateers' first homer of the year against Southern on Saturday.
 
Tulane is under the direction of Coach David Pierce who guided Sam Houston State to the regular season Southland title last year. The Green Wave completed a three-game sweep over San Francisco on the weekend. The Green Wave's last five contests have been decided by one or two runs.
 
The pitching staff for the Green Wave has limited opposing batters to a .230 average through the first seven games. Patrick Duester will start for Tulane in the Tuesday game. Duester threw five shutout innings in his first start against Southeastern. Hunter Hope led Tulane in hits last season and currently paces the team this season with 11 knocks through seven games.

WEATHER:

DAY	TEMPERATURE	CONDITIONS	CHANCE OF RAIN	WINDS
Tuesday	54/48	AM Showers	40%	NE 5-10
Wednesday	50/40	Heavy Rain	100%	NNW 10-15

 
PITCHING MATCHUP:
TUESDAY- UNO: RHP Daniel Martinez (0-0, 7.20) TLN: RHP-Patrick Duester (0-0, 0.00)
WEDNESDAY- UNO: RHP Alex Smith (1-0, 3.27) TLN: TBA
 
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD:
SERIES: Tulane leads 77-59
LAST MEETING: UNO W 7-3 (3/19/14)
 
NEXT UP:
After finishing the two-game midweek series, the Privateers remain in New Orleans as they host a three-game set against former conference rival in Middle Tennessee. First pitch for each game: Friday-6:30 p.m., Saturday-12 p.m., Sunday- 1 p.m.
 
NEWS AND NOTES:
HOT COCO:
Jonathan Coco has collected a hit in each of the first seven games, matching his longest collegiate hitting streak (Mar. 16-26, 2013). Coco also had his first three-RBI game of his career in Sunday's win against Grambling and is tied for second in the Southland in hits (12) through the first two weeks.
 
PLAIN AND SEMPLE:
Shawn Semple had a strong outing on Friday, racking up 10 strikeouts while throwing 6.2 shutout innings against Alcorn State. It was the first time a Privateer pitcher had fanned at least 10 in a game since Bryan Cryer (May 2008).
 
SWEEP THE BOARD:
The Privateers swept a weekend for the first time since April 2012. It was also the first sweep over D-I competition since New Orleans swept a three-game series against Grambling in April 2009. New Orleans is also above .500 for the first time since Mar. 17, 2012.
 
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