When you think of American Conference baseball, the names of East Carolina and Tulane immediately come rushing to you like a whirwind of excellence, a championship-winning pedigree that also has a level of respect for the two programs. However, despite the rich baseball history within the program, Tulane is often overlooked in the grand scheme of college baseball, but Coach Uhlman has his Green Wave program ready to play for another American Tournament Championship, while also looking to take things even further by placing Tulane baseball into contention for not only Regional hosting implications but to take Tulane back to the College World Series for the third time school history, the first since 2005. 

However you slice it, Tulane has all the pieces to compete at the highest level this season, with a balanced roster of 14 returning guys, 15 from the portal, and a number of first-year players expected to play pivotal roles for the Green Wave. 

However, before talking about the roster itself and how Tulane could take some folks by surprise this season, one must look at the non-conference slate that the Green Wave will go through before getting to the underrated American Conference play, where the conference has the potential to have one of the best baseball seasons in the history of the league. Hard to imagine with last season’s success from UTSA and East Carolina, but baseball in the American is on the upswing after an off-season investment in how teams schedule and build their roster to add depth to the American, making it as attractive as the Sun Belt or the other mid-major conferences. 

Tulane will open the 2026 season with a four-game west coast swing with an Opening Weekend series at Loyola Marymount, before remaining in Los Angles where the Green Wave will hang around for an early midweek test against the mighty Bruins of UCLA. Splitting, even taking three out of the four out west, would jumpstart the season, giving the Green Wave before the home series opener against a sneaky Harvard team. From there, a back-to-back Tuesday and Wednesday night midweek games against two rivals in New Orleans, before heading to Mobile to take on South Alabama, and before returning home to welcome Eastern Kentucky to Tulane. Then you get to the second week of March when Tulane will head to Texas to take on TCU, before heading over to Biloxi for another monster midweek against Mississippi State, from there a weekend home series against Creighton and midweeks against Northwestern State, and New Orleans before welcoming Memphis to open conference play starting on March 20th. Smacked in the middle of conference play will be midweeks with Grambling State, Nicholls, Lamar, Southern Miss, and the defending national champion, the LSU Tigers, in Baton Rouge at Alex Box Stadium to close out the non-conference slate for Tulane. There are plenty of chances for the Green Wave to stack wins that will boost the tournament resume while preparing them for a run at the American Championship. Some might call him crazy, but credit to Coach Uhlman and his staff for getting his team the opportunities to make a name for the 2026 Tulane baseball team. 

Not to mention, Tulane draws home conference series against East Carolina, UTSA, and South Florida, while having to go to Rice, FAU, and Charlotte. On paper, the home draw also increases the chances of securing tournament wins while playing in front of the hometown crowd at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. Again, take care of business and defend home field, and the conversation shifts from getting hot in the postseason to playing their way into an at-large bid and possibly playing in hosting conversations. 

From a talent perspective, Tulane has fourteen guys returning from last season. Among those fourteen guys, Kaikea Harrison at shortstop, Hugh Pinkney at catcher, Tanner Chun, Matthias Haas, and Nate Johnson, along with the other returning players, are expected to play huge roles this season for Tulane. From the portal, you have the likeness of Eastern Kentucky transfer AJ Groeneveld at second, Trent Liolios the transfer from Northwestern is expected to build off of his 16 home runs last season, while guys like Nolan Nawrocki from South Carolina, Tye Wood from New Mexico are expected to round out the lineup with qulaity at bats and stellar on base percentges to give Tulane more scoring oppounrities this season. 

As far as pitching goes, Tulane has veteran leadership in Trey Cehajic, back from last season, who posted an ERA of 4.89 and an impressive 5-2 overall record. However, it’s expected that the bulk of the pitching staff will come from the transfers, Beau Sampson from Oklahoma, Jack Brafa from Tennessee Tech, and Liberty transfer Jack Frankel. All three guys bring experience and a lot of promise to the Green Wave rotation this season. Lastly, Tulane will likely trust the grad transfer from Eastern Kentucky, Aidan Rath, who topped out at 99 MPH last season, to be the Green Wave’s backend closer this season. 

Overall, despite being projected to finish 4th in the American by the preseason coaches’ polls, the potential and depth are there for a special season for the Green Wave. To do so, starting strong will be of the utmost importance for this team as they look to enjoy the postseason without playing with their backs against the wall in the American Tournament. The excitement for this team ahead of the 2026 season is deserved, but for the people who might know what this team has on the roster, Tulane will continue to embrace the underdog role as they look to make a return back to a Regional while keeping the goal of taking Tulane Baseball back to Omaha as the main mission for the 2026 Green Wave Baseball team. 

Photo Credits- Tulane baseball on X