No. 1 Tulane is too much

The Green Wave handed Southeast a 9-0 loss in the season opener for both teams.

By Benjamin Hochman

Times-Picayune

NEW ORLEANS -- It was a beautiful night for, well, staying indoors.

It was frigid. The wind was brisk. And it was Happy Hour on a Friday night.

But 3,664 people huddled in their coats and cuddled in the stands at Tulane's Turchin Stadium, knowing they would see a good show.

What they saw was quite close to a masterpiece.

Green Wave pitcher Brian Bogusevic was dazzling, striking out a career-high 13 batters and allowing only two hits in eight innings pitched, as the No. 1 Green Wave dominated Southeast Missouri 9-0 in the season-opening game for both teams.

The southpaw Bogusevic, a first-team preseason Baseball America All-American, overpowered Southeast hitters with his fastball. And after a couple go-rounds, when they were expecting the heat, he released his nasty slider, sending batter after batter back to the dugout.

"Thirteen strikeouts, that's no fluke," Redhawks coach Mark Hogan said. "He had command all night."

Bogusevic struck out seven of his first 12 opponents, and when he struck out Bo Jenkins for the second out of the sixth inning, he surpassed his career high with his 11th strikeout.

The Redhawks mustered only a second-inning double by Frank Montiel and an eighth-inning single by Brent Lawson.

"We have a decent offensive club," Hogan insisted. "Facing a guy like him right out of the chute, there's a lot of nerves, people are a little jumpy, but I think as time goes on, we'll be fine."

Tulane coach Rick Jones wasn't surprised by Bogusevic's fast start.

"He's been throwing the ball real well in our intrasquad games," Jones said. "So you feel pretty comfortable that he's going to give you a good effort if you play defense behind him."

The most blaring aspect of the Redhawks' play -- or lack thereof -- on Friday was their defense. The team that didn't practice much under the lights in the preseason made three errors and misplayed five -- yes, five -- foul balls that dropped untouched. None were called errors by the official scorer.

After Redhawks starter Ryan Forsyth went four innings, allowing three runs on five hits, the Green Wave scored one in the sixth and exploded for four in the seventh, including a three-run home run by Mark Hamilton, his second homer of the game.

"You see better pitches when they can't pitch around anybody," Hamilton said of his team's talented lineup.

Tulane, ranked in the top five of all the major college baseball polls, plays Southeast again today. A determination was to be made this morning about playing a doubleheader Saturday or splitting the series' remaining games between Saturday and Sunday.