Tulane infielder Gavin Schulz (2) runs to the home plate during a baseball game against New Orleans at Maesri Field in New Orleans, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
Tulane infielder Gavin Schulz slides safely onto first base during a baseball game against New Orleans at Maesri Field in New Orleans, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
Tulane infielder Gavin Schulz (2) scores against South Florida on a single by infielder Michael Lombardi (15) in the second inning during an NCAA baseball game at Turchin Stadium in New Orleans, Saturday, April 13, 2024. (Staff photo by Scott Threlkeld, The Times-Picayune)
Tulane infielder Gavin Schulz (2) runs to the home plate during a baseball game against New Orleans at Maesri Field in New Orleans, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
Tulane infielder Gavin Schulz slides safely onto first base during a baseball game against New Orleans at Maesri Field in New Orleans, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)
Tulane infielder Gavin Schulz (2) scores against South Florida on a single by infielder Michael Lombardi (15) in the second inning during an NCAA baseball game at Turchin Stadium in New Orleans, Saturday, April 13, 2024. (Staff photo by Scott Threlkeld, The Times-Picayune)
A day after his career ended one win shy of a third consecutive American Athletic Conference Tournament championship and NCAA regional bid, departing Tulane senior Gavin Schulz offered a three-word plan for the program to approach its sustained success of the past.
Provide more scholarships.
At a school where yearly tuition will rise to $96,000, he sees no way the Green Wave baseball team can compete at the highest level if it sticks with the previous NCAA limit of 11.7 scholarships divided among everyone. If a proposed House vs. NCAA settlement is finalized and becomes official for 2025-26 as expected, roster sizes will be reduced to a maximum of 34 players, but all 34 will be permitted to be on full scholarship.
Schulz is looking for a happy medium between those two numbers at Tulane.
“(Athletic director) David Harris needs to definitely find a way to get more scholarships the way this tuition is increasing,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to compete with programs and get solid players to Tulane when they are on a 50% scholarship and still have to pay 50 grand.
“I hope they do step up with the rule changes. I think we should go all in for it. I don’t see why not, especially if you want to see this program get back to the glory days.”
Nothing is official yet, but Harris said in a phone interview earlier this month an increase was under consideration after consulting with coach Jay Uhlman, and “we have to figure out the right combination of things (that) can get you the result you want to get.”
Tulane last received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2016 and has gotten only three at-large invitations since a run of nine regionals in a row under former coach Rick Jones from 1998-2006.
For the third straight season, the Wave was nowhere close to one when it arrived in Clearwater, Florida, last week for the AAC Tournament. Once there, it almost earned an automatic spot as it had in 2023 and 2024 under Uhlman, going 3-0 at BayCare Ballpark while setting a program record with nine straight tournament wins before falling 8-2 to East Carolina in the championship game.
“We had a good run,” said Schulz, who went 8 for 18 and made the all-tournament team for the third time in his career. “We came up short obviously, which is very unfortunate, but for the returners coming back and the new guys, that can be a little fuel to the fire for next season.”
The problem for Tulane this season was pitching. Picked third in the AAC coaches preseason poll, it finished fifth at 13-14 while compiling the third-highest ERA (6.36) in school history behind 1990 (6.72) and 2023 (7.08). The Wave likely will lose its three most effective pitchers, with Michael Lombardi (2.14 ERA) expected to go high in the draft; Carter Benbrook (3.55) out of eligibility; and AAC all-tournament selection Tayler Montiel (3.53) eligible for medical school and the MLB draft.
Tulane ranked second in the AAC in runs and batting average during league play. The key will be retaining freshmen outfielders Jason Wachs, who hit a team-best .335, and Tanner Chun, who started 48 games. Junior second baseman Connor Rasmussen, who led the Wave with 45 RBIs, also could leave if he gets drafted.
“In this era of the transfer portal, it’s going to be really difficult every year,” Uhlman said a few minutes after Sunday’s loss. “You are going to have a lot of turnover. Our cost of education isn’t getting cheaper, so we have our built-in obstacles like everybody else does. We are going to continue to do the best we can to create a culture that young people want to be a part of because they are going to get coached and developed and get a great education and experience while they’re at it.”
One thing Uhlman made very clear in Clearwater is that he will make no staff changes. He defended pitching coach Anthony Izzio emphatically after Tulane held UTSA’s AAC record-setting offense to three runs on Saturday for its second win in three days against the regular-season champion.
“As much as people want to badmouth our pitching, coach Izzio’s done a tremendous job for three years here,” he said. “Without his contributions, we wouldn’t be in this position.”
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
News Tips:
nolanewstips@theadvocate.com
Other questions:
subscriberservices@theadvocate.com
Need help?
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.
We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
