Baseball Opens 2019 Campaign at Tulane

Friday, February 15

New Orleans, La.

7:30 p.m.

George Washington University

Tulane

2/14/2019 12:19:00 PM | Baseball

Head Coach Gregg Ritchie enters seventh season guiding the Buff & Blue

WASHINGTON - GW baseball kicks off its seventh season under head coach Gregg Ritchie with a three-game series at Tulane in New Orleans. The weekend set features a 7:30 p.m. start on Friday, followed by 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday (All Times Eastern).

LEADING OFF: The Colonials will open the 2019 campaign away from home, the fourth straight year that's been the case. GW has previously visited North Florida, Auburn and Florida Atlantic in warmer locales to kick off its campaign.

ABOUT LAST YEAR: GW finished with 32 wins last year, tied for the ninth-most in school history and the highest mark since 2015. The Buff & Blue became the first No. 7 seed in A-10 history to advance to the third day of competition at the Atlantic 10 Tournament, winning three straight elimination games along the way.

ON THE MOUND: A veteran corps returns for GW's starting staff in senior Nate Woods, junior Jaret Edwards, and redshirt-senior Brady Renner. Woods was last year's workhorse, compiling a team-best 15 starts while going 5-3 with a 3.18 ERA. Edwards stepped up when others went down with injuries to go 5-2 with a 3.28 ERA, solidifying his spot on the weekend. Renner is coming off an injury-truncated year that forced him off the hill after just two starts.

AT THE DISH: The Colonials will look for players to step up after the departure of all-conference honorees Mark Osis, Robbie Metz and Isaiah Pasteur, the latter two of which were selected in the MLB Draft. Senior utility player Dom D'Alessandro returns after a First Team All-Conference campaign in his first year on campus, hitting .318 with nine home runs. Junior utility player Steve Barmakian will also be counted upon as an anchor after raking .310 with 44 runs scored.

WELCOME TO THE SHOW: GW welcomes 15 newcomers to the squad, comprising nearly half of the 33-man roster. Many of the first-years are expected to make immediate impacts with five potentially receiving opening night starting nods: Greg Anderberg (C), Derek Ripp (1B), Logan Doran (2B), Cade Fergus (CF) and Tyler Hix (RF).

ABOUT THE GREEN WAVE: Tulane, out of the American, went 25-33 in 2018 and is just a couple years removed from making consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in 2015 and 2016. The Green Wave were projected to finish sixth in the American this season.

Offensively, Tulane returns six of its top seven hitters from a year ago, led by Trevor Jensen, who hit .306 with nine home runs and 35 RBI. The Green Wave's weekend rotation returns in tact with right-handers Kaleb Roper (5-5, 4.48) and Keagan Gillies (6-6, 3.36) slated to get the ball on Friday and Saturday, respectively.