A few poorly played innings here and there have cost the Memphis baseball team early this season and that was again the case Tuesday night as the Tigers gave up five runs on three errors and six hits in the first two innings, helping Middle Tennessee State cruise to an 8-4 victory before 244 fans at a rain-soaked AutoZone Park.
Memphis, which dropped to 3-7 on the young season, has lost its last three games thanks in part to a combined 10 errors in those three losses. The Tigers had committed just 10 errors in their previous seven games combined.
“We basically played two bad innings,” second-year head coach Dave Anderson said. “Other than that, we played pretty solid. (Nick) Steht threw the ball well and Matt Fry threw the ball good for us tonight. We just had a couple of bad innings and that’s been our problem.”
“Tonight was a tough night to play defense anyway,” Anderson added. “The field was not very good and the balls were wet, so it was a tough night to play defense. Basically, (MTSU) just made us handle the ball a little bit more than we made them handle the ball. We had a lot of fly balls and easy outs. They made us handle the ball early in the ballgame and we made some mistakes.”
Tiger freshman pitcher Daniel de Armas (0-1) took the loss for Memphis after lasting just two innings and giving up five runs (four earned) on six hits. Fry and Steht combined to throw six solid innings in relief, giving up three runs on just five hits, but MTSU wouldn’t need the insurance after jumping out to an early 5-1 lead through two innings.
Former Germantown High School standout Steven Kines (2-0) pitched well enough for the Blue Raiders to get the win, scattering eight hits over 6 2/3 innings and allowing just three runs. Reliever Chris Mobley pitched 2 1/3 for his first save of the season.
The Tigers — which came into the game ranked last in Conference USA in batting average (.245), on-base percentage (.338) and hits per game (8.1) — tightened things up in the bottom of the seventh inning on freshman left fielder Ryan Martin’s 386-foot solo shot to left centerfield and third baseman Kyle Scott’s RBI double that made the score 6-3.
But MTSU, which entered the game hitting .330 as a team, added two runs (one unearned) in the top of the ninth to put the game out of reach.
“I thought we played a lot better today and had a lot better intensity,” Anderson said. ”I saw a lot of positive things out there today so it gives you something to build on.
“We’ll get better defensively. You’ve got a lot of guys that haven’t played very much, especially at this level, and they’re trying to figure things out.”
Memphis wraps up its two-game series with the Blue Raiders today at 2 p.m. at AutoZone. The Tigers then travel to Louisville for a three-game set before returning to AutoZone March 20 for a four-game homestand.
Said Anderson: “It’s got to be a team effort. I think that’s the thing right now is just don’t point fingers and go out there and start playing. I think we’ll start doing that.”
