Tulane baseball Coach Jay Uhlman has never been more pumped for a college baseball season.
Sure, he wants to put the team’s 2023 regular season record behind him. But what happened in the post-season has him — and his team — itching for the 2024 season to commence.
The Green Wave entered the American Athletic Conference (AAC) tournament seeded seventh and with seemingly nothing to lose. They exited six days later with an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals, having beaten Houston (twice), Memphis and East Carolina to win the AAC Baseball Championship.
Although they lost two games in the Baton Rouge Regional — including one against LSU, the eventual College World Series champion — winning the conference tournament convinced the Wave that anything is possible.
“I remember our guys feeling like, ‘We can do this. It’s possible,’ ” Uhlman said. “We rose to the occasion. Now they have an idea what that tastes like. The big value for us is how we use that positivity going forward, how we transition into the fall and then into the (2024) season.”
Teo Banks
When fall practice begins in October, the team will have 28 new players, several new staffers, and some highly touted returning players, including outfielder Teo Banks and shortstop Gavin Schulz, a New Orleans native who played high school ball at Holy Cross.
“Teo was the MVP of the tournament,” Uhlman said. “He is a dynamic athlete and a great representation of the institution and the program. Gavin is kind of the Energizer bunny. He’s a high-energy guy and one of our leaders.”
Gavin Schulz
Another thing Tulane baseball has in its favor is its tradition of winning, including two trips to the College World Series and a stellar record of Tulanians who have played in the big leagues. Uhlman thinks back to 2020, when the 20th-ranked Wave went 15-2 before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the season.
“All signs were pointing to us getting to a regional for the first time since 2016,” Uhlman said.
Uhlman is convinced that Tulane can get back to its winning ways, and his players are, too, thanks to their success in this year’s AAC Championship. “They were proud of what they accomplished,” he said. “They seemed to understand how rare what they did was, and they’re ready to do it again.”
The season kicks off on Feb. 16 with a home series against the Northwestern Wildcats.
