Privateers Baseball Rallies Back for Walk-Off Victory Over Tulane

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NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans baseball team (11-2) battled back from a six-run deficit and rallied for a walk-off 10-9 victory over the Tulane Green Wave (8-5) in the first game of the First NBC Cup on Wednesday night at Maestri Field at First NBC Ballpark.
 
The Privateers entered the ninth inning of the back-and-forth affair trailing 9-8. Preston Marsh drew a walk, but the next two batters were retired. Ryan Calloway then hit a ball to deep short and reached on an infield single to keep the frame going and put the winning run on base. Aaron Palmer followed with a base hit to shallow right that scored Robinson. A subsequent error allowed Calloway to come home and complete the thrilling comeback for UNO who moved to 11-0 at home.
 
"This win is a huge boost of confidence for us going to conference," said Coach Blake Dean. "Whatever happens this weekend, we're just going to play the game hard and let everything else take care of itself, but it's a big thing for these guys to see that they just beat a top 25 team in the country and show what they're capable of."
 
Daniel Martinez picked up the win, his first decision on the season. Martinez finished out the eighth, recording the last two outs. During that span, the Privateers committed an error in the field and a wild pitch afterward allowed Tulane to take a 9-8 lead. Martinez came back to retire the side in order in the ninth to set up the dramatic finish.
 
UNO got a boost from the bottom third of the order, which combined to go 6-for-10 with three RBI and five runs scored. Preston Marsh drew three walks and Jay Robinson had a two-run triple that gave the Privateers a brief lead in the seventh. Chaz Boyer was 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.
 
"If somebody's not doing it, someone else has to step up," said Dean. "We didn't play the game very well overall. We left runners on in crucial situations, but the guys showed the tenacity to chip away and the fight and desire to win these guys have."
 
UNO fell into an early 6-0 hole before cracking the scoreboard in the fourth with an RBI triple by Hezekiah Randolph. Tulane responded with a run in the fifth to extend their lead back to six, but UNO came back against the Green Wave bullpen. The big inning came in the sixth  when the Privateers plated four.
 
After Boyer's RBI single cut the Tulane lead to 7-3, Palmer drew a two-out walk three batters later. Dakota Dean then lined a single to center that scored two runs. A third came home after a fielding error by centerfielder, Grant Brown.
 
"We found ways to get on and move runners over," said Dean. "We flew around the bases and were intense. We played the game hard to the very end and Calloway beating out the ball to the shortstop, those types of things are what this team is made of."
 
The Privateers were also boosted by a strong performance from Keaton Brewer out of the pen. Brewer finished out the fourth inning after starter, Bryan Warzek was lifted and proceeded to eat up 3.1 innings while allowing just two hits and a run. Brewer struck out four and threw 58 pitches. 
 
"Keaton did a good job for us and gave our hitters a chance to settle in and get going. I know we can hit, there's no doubt about that. We've just got to have the capability keeping the game close and he came in and shut them down and we got it going."
 
Dean went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs on the night.  Calloway went 2-for-6 and scored the deciding run. The Privateers scored double digit runs for the sixth time this season. UNO batters also drew eight walks against Tulane pitching.
 
The Green Wave got early two-run homers from Brown and Hunter Hope. Jake Rogers scored twice and walked twice. Lead-off hitter, Cade Edwards went 2-for-6 with an RBI and Richard Carthon added two runs and two RBI. Dan Rankin took the loss for the Green Wave.
 
The Privateers will start Southland play on Friday against Sam Houston State. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m.
 
Season tickets for the 2016 campaign are available for as low as $125 and single-game tickets start at $5. For additional information, contact the UNO Atheltics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or log on to the internet at http://www.unoprivateers.com.
 
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