NEW ORLEANS — Tulane senior first baseman Sam Honeck has tormented opposing pitchers all season and leads the Green Wave in home runs, RBI and slugging percentage.And Honeck kept his offensive tear going Wednesday night, going 2-for-4 with four RBI in the Green Wave’s 8-7 win against LSU.The win is the first time Tulane has beaten LSU at the Green Wave’s on-campus Turchin Stadium since 1994.”This is just what we needed,” Honeck said. “I’ve been feeling good at the plate, but this win will help us get on a good note ahead of our series against Rice this weekend.”Tulane (17-11) took a 7-2 lead into the sixth inning.A furious LSU rally fell short in the ninth inning as the Tigers (21-7) brought runners to second and third base in the final inning. But Tulane sophomore closer Nick Pepitone ended the rally and retired sophomore shortstop DJ LeMahieu on strikes to seal the win for the Green Wave.”We had some real clutch hits there in the last half of the ball game,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “But we just dug ourselves into such a hole.”The Green Wave took an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a three-run home run by Honeck.LSU fired back in the second inning with a two-RBI single by freshman third baseman Tyler Hanover to push within a run.The run support allowed LSU freshman Chris Matulis to settle down and pitch scoreless second and third innings before being replaced by senior Nolan Cain in the bottom of the fourth inning.Matulis’ outing was his shortest of the season.”I can’t tell you why he struggled, but he didn’t pitch very well though,” Mainieri said. “That’s just the bottom line. I was expecting more and was hoping for more, but he just didn’t pitch very well.”Tulane starter Aaron Loup also settled in after early jitters and pitched 6 2/3 innings and allowed four runs.”He threw a lot of strikes,” Mainieri said. “And we didn’t get around on a lot of them. He was throwing his fastball right by us a lot.”Honeck struck again in a four-run Tulane rally in the bottom of the fifth and ripped a double into right field off Cain that scored senior second baseman Seth Henry to give Tulane a 7-2 lead.Freshman catcher Jeremy Schaffer also had an RBI single in the inning, and senior right fielder Drew Allain capped the rally with a two-RBI single.The Wave added a run in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Schaffer before the LSU late-inning rally.One bright spot of the game for the Tigers was the play of junior outfielder Blake Dean.Dean again showed signs of snapping out of his early-season slump and went 2-for-4.The Crestview, Fla., native’s performance followed up a 5-of-11 and five-RBI weekend against Ole Miss.Dean hit fifth in the LSU batting order against the Green Wave with Loup being a left-handed pitcher.”He’s been scuffling, so I wanted to take some pressure off of him,” Mainieri said. “But he’s getting his stroke back, and you can see that now. That’s going to be a big boost for our team.”Despite the loss, Mainieri said he was proud of the effort his team showed in its comeback.”Our kids battled hard, and we got ourselves in position to win the game,” he said. “I’m very proud of the effort.”—-Contact Casey Giscliar at [email protected]