IRVING, Texas – One day after two Tulane baseball upperclassmen were honored by Conference USA for their work in the classroom, freshmen Ian Gibaut and Richard Carthon were named to the All-Freshman Team, announced the league offices on Tuesday.
Yesterday, senior Brandon Boudreaux and junior Bowen Woodson were named to the All-Academic Team by CUSA.
Carthon and Gibaut stepped into major roles early in the season due to a variety of injuries suffered by returning players, and have stayed in those roles due to their levels of talent.
Carthon started the third game of the season in left field, going 1-for-3 with a triple in his first start. Overall, he has played in 53 games, starting 46 of them – mostly in left field. He has collected 47 hits in his freshman year, five of which came in a performance against High Point on March 10. He leads the team in triples with four and 14 stolen bases. He sits in third place in the Conference USA standings in the latter category. He has also been hit by 13 pitches on the year, tied for third in the league.
On top of all of that, he has played errorless baseball in left field, recording 87 putouts and six assists from the outfield. He accomplished all of this without participating in fall ball with the team, as he was wrapping up his time as a defensive back and kick returner for the Tulane football team. On the season, he is batting .261 with one home run and 13 RBIs.
Gibaut has been a mainstay in the backend of the Tulane bullpen since early this season. He made four appearances in late February and early March before being placed in the closer role, where he has rattled off a team-high 11 saves, a mark tied for third in the conference. His save total is a Tulane freshman record, and the most by a first-year player since Brandon Belanger recorded 16 in 1999. There are only two freshmen in the entire nation who have more saves than him. He struck out three batters in one game in six different appearances this year.
For his efforts on the year, Gibaut has been named the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Pitcher of the Week on two different occasions. He is 2-2 with a 2.70 ERA in 40.0 innings this season.
Carthon, Gibaut and the rest of the Green Wave baseball squad will open the Conference USA Championships against Southern Miss at 3pm CT on Wednesday afternoon. The team will have Thursday off. Game two for the Green Wave will be played against ECU on Friday at 11am. The third game for the Greenies will be against Houston on Saturday at 3pm CT. The winner of the two pods will face each other in the Conference USA Championship Game on Sunday at 1pm CT.
All games will be broadcast on 88.3 FM, and live stats will be made available through TulaneGreenWave.com.
