Tulane added injury to insult in Sunday’s 18-5 loss to West Virginia, making the recovery from an early-season hole even harder entering Tuesday’s night’s game with Louisiana-Lafayette at Turchin Stadium.
Senior catcher Jeremy Montalbano fractured his ankle in a collision at the plate during the fifth inning and likely is lost for the season. He had surgery Sunday evening to repair the ligament and stabilize the fracture with a plate and will begin rehabilitation immediately.
“I can’t say 100 percent for sure he’s definitely out for the year,” coach Travis Jewett said. “We’re saddened for him. The last college season is not supposed to go out like that for good people. He’s one of the spiritual leaders on the team for sure. It was a kick in the knee to see that happen.”
Before getting hurt, Montalbano had caught every inning at the Green Wave’s thinnest position. Freshman Paul Gozzo, the only other catcher on the roster, is recovering from a shoulder injury that dates back to a torn labrum from his senior year in high school.
Redshirt freshman Jonathon Artigues caught the rest of the way Sunday. Artigues, the nephew of Southeastern Louisiana athletic director and former baseball coach Jay Artigues, is listed as an infielder and pitcher. He pitched and played shortstop in high school.
“That was the one position we really just couldn’t afford to take that kind of blow,” Jewett said. “We’re hoping that Paul Gozzo is close to his return, which would help the situation a little bit obviously. Artigues, that’s the type of kid he is, willing to do whatever to help the team.”
The way Montalbano got hurt created some friction between Tulane and West Virginia. The Mountaineers’ Jackson Cramer ran into him instead of sliding on a play at the plate while trying to score from first on a double with a 12-4 lead. Cramer pulled off at the last second, lessening the blow, but Montalbano’s leg got pinned.
Sunday night, Montalbano tweeted “drop your shoulder, break the rule and take somebody’s career away from him. Makes me sick.” He added “It’s a shame no one will be held accountable for the blatant rule being broken here.” He was further angered when West Virginia posted a highlight video of its victory that included the play.
The school took down that part of the video on Monday morning.
On the field, umpires huddled for several minutes before ruling Cramer had not violated an NCAA rule, counting the run.
“The kid still hasn’t slid,” Jewett said Monday. “But whether the kid was supposed to slide or not, it’s just unfortunate.”
Montalbano, a Texas transfer who begin playing for Tulane last year, emerged from a season-opening slump with a two-run home run to straightaway center field in the second inning on Sunday. He was hitting .220 but had been terrific defensively replacing 2016 Major League third-round draft pick Jake Rogers, throwing out more than half of attempted base-stealers. He also made a diving catch of a popped up bunt near the backstop on Saturday.
Last year, Montalbano drove in a team-high 45 runs and was second to Hunter Hope with 12 home runs, batting .269. Despite hurting his elbow while pitching in relief--an injury that required offseason Tommy John surgery--he played in every game as a designated hitter.
Unable to throw overhand in fall practice, he rehabbed the elbow diligently and showed good arm strength in the first two weeks of the season.
“I'd give my elbow or ankle for Tulane baseball any day of the week,” he tweeted Sunday night. “Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. Surgery went well.”
Tulane, which is 3-8 for the first time since 1993, won’t be able to ease into life without him. UL-Lafayette (6-4) is ranked 15th in the D1Baseball.com poll, and San Diego (7-3) arrives for a four-game series starting Thursday after winning one of three at Vanderbilt and beating UC Irvine, Oregon, USC and UCLA.
The Wave and Cajuns split two games last year, with Tulane winning 5-3 at Turchin Stadium and the Cajuns prevailing 9-2 in Lafayette.
Freshman Chase Solesky (0-0, 1.54 ERA) will make his third start for the Wave but may no go deep because Jewett is considering bringing him back on the long weekend.
Sophomore lefty Hogan Harris (0-0) will pitch for the Cajuns. In his only appearance this year, he pitched five no-hit innings at Northwestern State, striking out eight.
First pitch is 6:30 p.m.
“Although yesterday had a dark cloud over it, you can’t lose focus that we just took a series from a really good team,” Jewett said. “When you have a chance to sweep the series and we played like we did and the injury happened, everybody was (walking) around like we got swept. We have to take those two wins and move forward.”
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