The University of Memphis Tigers baseball team didn’t just snap out of their five game losing streak, they pounded it out with heavy bats, scoring 24 runs against The University of Tennessee Martin Skyhawks at Nat Buring Stadium.
The Tigers (8-19) had 22 hits against the Skyhawks, while the Tigers’ pitching staff only allowed four hits.
“Well, we scored 24 runs and did a lot of things right offensively,” Tiger head coach Dave Anderson said.
The first of the right things started with Kyle Scott, who hit a double in the second inning to drive in the first two runs for the Tigers. The next batter, first baseman Kyle Sledd, hit a bunt down the third base line that drove in Scott.
The following batter, right fielder Josh Payne, hammered a homer to drive in two with no outs. The two run shot would be his first of three in the game for Payne, increasing his season total to five.
“We’ve been struggling. We needed a win like this to get us going,” Anderson said.
Left fielder Ryan Martin hit a leadoff homerun in the fourth, his second of the season.
The Tigers loaded the bases and Payne was up to bat again, when he smashed another homer, his first ever grand slam, off a fastball.
“I can’t even explain it,” Payne said. “It’s unbelievable.”
Memphis continued the offensive explosion with six more runs in the fourth inning.
The Tigers had six hits in the fourth, which tied the record for hits in a single inning this season.
In the fifth, designated hitter Kurt Welch hit a double down the left field line to drive in second baseman Bill Moss and center fielder Kevin House, and Payne hit his third homerun of the night and added two more RBIs to his stats.
“We got some key hits with guys on base,” Anderson said.
In the sixth inning, Joe Crass relieved the hot hitting Payne, to get his first at bat this season, but was walked to later cross home as one of the five runs that inning.
The Tigers were scoreless in the seventh inning, but Wade Rainey got his first chance at bat in his career, going one for two in the game.
By the end of the night, the Tigers had 24 runs on 22 hits with 19 RBIs, and left twelve on base.
The big hitter of the night, Payne, went 3 for 3 with eight RBIs and cleared the bases each at bat.
“It was one of those nights. The wind was blowing out so you knew there was going to be a lot of runs scored, you just hope it’s on our side not their side,” Anderson said.
To prevent the Skyhawks from using the wind to their advantage, the Tigers used six different pitchers in the game, starting with sophomore Bill Edwards who allowed no hits in the first two innings.
The pitching staff only allowed four hits, the lowest in a game this season, and one run.
“We got to use a lot of pitchers we haven’t used very much, gave them the opportunity to pitch in a game and they did pretty well,” Anderson said
This was a game of records for the Tigers under head coach Anderson.
The Tigers scored the most runs in a game and won by the largest margin of victory.
The Tigers had not scored 24 runs since the Great Midwest Tournament in 1994.
The Tigers are heading into a three game series this weekend against Conference USA foe Texas Christian University at home.
“They are a really good team, a team we haven’t played before. We missed them on the schedule last year,” Anderson said. “It will be the first time we see them and the first time they see us, so it should be a good weekend.”
