After a weather-plagued loss Saturday, Sunday was a beautiful day for the Tulane baseball team.

Tayler Montiel pitched three strong innings of relief, and Michael Lombardi drove in the winning run and closed in the ninth as the Green Wave edged Xavier 5-4 to win the weekend series at Turchin Stadium.

The Musketeers (8-13) beat Tulane (15-5) 10-3 on Saturday to tie the series at a game apiece.

“(Xavier) is a team that would fit in our conference in terms of just the competitiveness and talent level, so we knew coming in that this would prep us for what's coming starting next weekend,” said Green Wave coach Jay Uhlman, whose team won for the eighth time in 10 games.

Tulane will play host to Lamar on Tuesday before starting American Athletic Conference play Friday vs. Wichita State in a three-game series at Turchin.

Lombardi, who started in center field, laid down a perfectly executed bunt to the first-base side that brought in Gavin Schultz from third base with the eventual winning run in the bottom of the seventh.

Montiel then struck out the side in the top of the eighth, getting third baseman Luke Hammond on a called third strike to lead off the inning. Hammond had gotten a hit in six consecutive at-bats.

Montiel pitched three innings while giving up one hit with no walks and striking out four. The one run he allowed was unearned.

Xavier had tied the score 4-4 in the seventh when Tulane first baseman Nate Johnson bobbled a bunt by Jason Jelic, enabling Carter Hendrickson to score from third. Hendrickson had reached base leading off the inning on an error by Wave shortstop Kaikea Harrison and advanced to third on a double by first baseman Connor Misch.

Lombardi entered in the ninth. He gave up a one-out double to Misch, then struck out Jelic looking at a beautiful breaking pitch on the outside corner before fanning Clay Burdette on a 2-2 pitch to end it.

Montiel (1-0) was the winning pitcher for the first time since 2023, his first season with the Wave after transferring from Mississippi State. He admittedly underperformed the past two seasons while Tulane won two AAC Tournament championships. He has two career wins with the Wave.

“I've really struggled since I've been here,” Montiel said. “But I had a good fall, and my coaches and teammates have a lot of confidence in me.

“Repeating my delivery has been important. Every time I'm out there now, I feel like I'm getting in the same spots, and I feel consistent with my delivery to where I'm not guessing as to how the ball is going to move.”

The seventh inning was key for Montiel and the Wave, Uhlman said. After two errors and the unearned run that tied the score, there were runners on second and third with no outs.

Montiel fielded a bunt by Burdette and scooped the ball with his glove to catcher Hugh Pinkney, who tagged out Misch at the plate. Montiel then struck out Nolan Tucker and induced a groundout to shortstop by Isaac Wachmann.

“The seventh had a chance to be a really bad inning for us,” Uhlman said. “When we walked off the field, we were tied instead of down. That was huge.”

The Wave led 4-3 after the sixth, with all of its runs unearned.