Tulane rallies past Florida

• Published: May 31, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Junior left fielder Scott Powell and sophomore shortstop Josh Prince combined to go 6-for-8, and freshmen right-hander Nick Pepitone pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, helping third-seeded Tulane defeated second-seeded Florida, 7-4, in NCAA regional play Friday at Florida State’s Dick Howser Stadium.

Tulane trailed 4-1 after six innings but took advantage of six hits, two wild pitches, a walk and a sacrifice fly to plate six runs in the seventh to account for the final score.

Tulane (38-20-1) advances to the winner’s bracket where it will play fourth-seeded Bucknell, a 7-0 upset winner over top-seeded Bucknell, at 6 p.m. today.

Florida (34-23), meanwhile, drops into the loser’s bracket and will face Florida State, who lost to Bucknell 7-0, at noon today.

“We played as close to a complete game today as we could play,” Tulane coach Rick Jones said. “We had good starting pitching and we pitched really well out of the bullpen. With the exception of one play, we really played well defensively.

“We had a lot of quality at-bats, especially in RBI situations there in the sixth were we capitalized. I thought our short game was really special and had a lot to do with our win.”

After dropping three straight games to end the regular season and going 1-2 in the Conference USA Tournament, Jones and his staff looked for something or someone to give the Green Wave a spark.

Tulane found that spark — plus some — in a familiar, if surprising, place. Powell responded by going 3-for-4 with a run scored. Prince, meanwhile, went 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored from the ninth spot in the batting order.

“Scotty has given us a lot of good situational performances, but what we were able to do starting Monday was reevaluate some guys in intrasquad and simulated-game situations,” Jones said.

“Scotty really showed up in that. We talked about it as a staff and I wanted to sleep on it a little bit. I just felt like we needed a spark, and if Scotty could give us that spark, he would make a big difference. He certainly did. He had a single, got those two bunts down and beat them out, and made two really good plays in the outfield.”

Florida erased a 1-0 deficit with a four-run sixth which included an RBI-double by Brandon McArthur and two-run homer by Jon Townsend.

 Tulane stormed right back in the top of the seventh with five consecutive singles to take control of the game.

Pepitone (4-1) stranded a runner at second with one out in Florida’s four-run sixth with a strikeout and a fly ball to center. He faced the minimum in the seventh with a walk, a strikeout and a double-play grounder, and pitched his way around a one-out double in the eighth.