NEW ORLEANS – Tulane’s J.P. France looked stellar over seven innings and the only bright spot for West Virginia’s offense in a 6-0 loss Saturday was Darius Hill’s single in the ninth that extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
West Virginia managed only five hits and committed three errors in falling to 6-4. The Green Wave, which benefited from 11 walks, improved to 3-7 and will go for the sweep Sunday.
“Anytime you can walk 11 times – we haven’t done that a lot this year – that tells me we’re in control of pace, timing, pitch recognition and the strike zone,” Tulane coach Travis Jewett said. “They allowed us some free runners, but we certainly played good offense and took advantage of some of those too.”
France (1-1) entered with a 9.00 ERA after a rough outing at UC-Santa Barbara, but the right-hander held the Mountaineers to four hits, walking two and striking out four through seven innings.
“France rebounded from his tough outing last weekend in California and just took control from the get-go,” Jewett said. “He was ahead early, his stuff was quality, and he just kept them at bay.”
The wildness of Mountaineers starter Carter Camp (1-0) handed Tulane a 1-0 lead in the first inning without a hit. He followed those four walks with another in the second inning and left trailing 3-0 after 46 pitches.
Jacob Potock allowed runs in the fourth and fifth, part of a 66-pitch relief appearance that spanned 4 2/3 innings.
Freshman center fielder TJ Lake led West Virginia with two hits.
West Virginia had a chance to cut into the 5-0 deficit in the sixth, when Lake led it off with a single and Kyle Gray walked with one out. However France induced a double play to nd the threat.
Jack Hogan pitched the final two innings for Tulane.