NEW ORLEANS -- Marshall hitters led by Nate Lape and Victor Gomez face Tulane's strong pitching today in a Conference USA baseball tournament game.
Marshall, the No. 6 seed with a 26-28-1 season record and 10-13-1 conference mark, meets third-seeded Tulane (36-18-1, 13-9-1) on the Green Wave's home field. Game time is 8:30 p.m. with the radio broadcast on WRVC 930-AM.
Rice is the No. 1 seed in the double-elimination tournament.
Nate Lape, a junior outfielder from Huntington, N.Y., leads a Marshall team with a .300 batting average. Lape leads C-USA in slugging percentage (.688) and is second in hitting with a .385 average. He has 14 home runs and 52 RBI.
Lape was named as a member of the All-CUSA first team. Marshall designated hitter Victor Gomez and pitcher Steve Blevins made the all-conference second team.
Gomez, a C-USA All-Freshman Team selection from Miami, Fla., is hitting .370 with 11 homers and 43 RBI.
Adam Yeager of Huntington leads the conferrence with 38 stolen bases in 45 attempts. Yeager has a .309 batting average.
Thundering Herd catcher Tommy Johnson, a senior from Gaithersburg, Md., has a .327 average, eight homers and 43 RBI.
Blevins (8-3, 4.55 ERA) is a junior from Louisa, Ky. Other starting pitchers include sophomore Dan Straily (4-3, 4.46) of Springfield, Ore., and junior Andrew Blain (2-5, 6.79) from Huntington.
Freshman relief pitcher Arik Sikula from Hurricane has seven saves.
Tulane's .291 team batting average includes freshman Rob Segedin of Old Tappan, N.J., hitting .340 with six homers and 56 RBI.
Anthony Scelfo, a junior all-conference pick from New Orleans who plays quarterback for the Green Wave football team, has a .327 average, 11 homers and 46 RBI.
Green Wave pitcher Shooter Hunt has a 9-2 record and 2.10 ERA. The junior from Wyckoff, N.J., has 110 strikeouts in 85.2 innings pitched. Hunt has held opposing hitters to a .148 average.
Hunt, a right-hander, was named as the C-USA Pitcher of the Year and made the all-conference first team.
The Tulane pitching staff also includes sophomore Matt Petiton (6-1, 2.83) of Garden City, N.Y., and junior Jonathan Garrett (3-2, 4.69) of Mandeville, La.
Opposing teams have a .237 batting average against the Green Wave.
Marshall and Tulane met in early April, splitting the series evenly with a win, a loss and a tie each.
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