Wave pounds Jaguars

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 8, 2008 - Page: 3C - UPDATED: 12:45 a.m.

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When Southern University baseball coach Roger Cador inserts late-season games outside of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, there is a method to the madness.

Especially when Cador lines his team up against a team with the talent and prestige of Tulane.

So even though the Jaguars absorbed a 10-3 loss against the Green Wave at Lee-Hines Field on Wednesday, Cador knew there was some good to take from the loss — just the fifth in the last 21 games for SU.

“Playing this kind of team doesn’t hurt you because it’s something we can build on going into next week,” Cador said, referring to the 2008 SWAC Tournament, which the Jaguars will host.

For Tulane, meanwhile, the impressive outing included the perfect remedy for a team in a mild two-game skid and headed on a difficult road trip.

The Wave (33-15-1) got a complete-game pitching performance from Jonathan Garrett and piled up 11 hits against four Jaguars pitchers. More importantly, a day after four errors plagued Tulane in a 9-8 loss to New Orleans, the Wave was flawless on defense and borderline spectacular at times.

Sparked by solid execution early and the first of three no-doubt home runs, Tulane surged to a 6-0 lead in its first three at-bats and rode Garrett from there. Seth Henry and Andrew Rodgers chased in the Wave’s first two runs with ground-ball outs and Henry opened the floodgates for a four-run third when he pumped a 2-and-2 offering from SU starter Belferd Pryer over the fence in left-center.

“(Wednesday) was one of those situations where we got down so far to a good team and it makes it difficult to come back,” said Cador, whose team clinched the SWAC West Division crown last weekend with a road sweep at Prairie View A&M. “We didn’t execute from a pitching standpoint and I didn’t like our approach at the plate.”

Garrett’s precision took advantage of the Jaguars’ aggressiveness.

Not only did Garrett not walk a batter in nine innings, he rarely went deep into counts as Southern came out hacking. Garrett recorded 13 fly-ball outs and always stayed a step ahead of the Jaguars.

Of Southern’s six hits, the first four were singles after Garrett had already recorded an out in the inning. He erased two of those hits with double plays. SU’s lineup entered the night scorching hot with 85 hits in the previous six games. But Garrett kept the Jaguars tied in knots.

“I just focused on throwing strikes, keeping it over the plate and letting the defense work,” Garrett said after his first career complete game. “I’m not surprised that they put some good swings on the ball tonight because a good hitter is a good hitter. It doesn’t matter who you’re pitching against. I just had a good night and the defense worked well.”

Indeed, the Tulane defense sparkled behind Garrett.