University of Memphis head baseball coach Daron Schoenrock knew his first year on the job might be filled with growing pains. However, over the last two weeks and nine games, he may be feeling just pains.
"I'd feel a lot worse if the team wasn't playing hard," Schoenrock said.
Schoenrock was as positive as he could be Thursday during practice. His Memphis team (2-10 in Conference USA, 8-22 overall) extended its losing streak to nine games after a 8-4 loss to Austin Peay Wednesday night at Nat Buring Stadium.
The losses come after two wins against the University of South Florida and Murray State in late March.
Since the wins, they have been 0 for April and have been outscored by their opponents 83-42 during the streak.
The run differential shows the lack of production on the mound and at the plate, a combination that is deadly to any baseball team.
"Right now we're just having trouble getting both of them to work at the same time," said junior pitcher Tim Senter.
One of the most telling stats is the batting average of the Tigers and their opponents.
On the season, Memphis is hitting .289 while their opponents are at .322.
The difference in slugging percentage is even more staggering.
While the Tigers have a .391 percentage, opponents are slugging .494.These stats measure production over the entire year, however one of the reasons for the losing is poor hitting in clutch situations.
"We're just not making competitive swings in competitive moments," said sophomore first baseman Adam Amar.
The pitching rotation and bullpen have had their troubles as well.The team's earned run average has elevated to 7.22 during the losing streak.
In relation to that, the Tigers' opponents are missing bats with more consistency, allowing 4.98 runs per nine innings.
Only Senter has an ERA below five, but in 11 appearances he is 0-4However, Senter isn't frustrated about being winless with the best ERA on the team.
"More or less whether I win or not, I'd rather do my job and give my teammates a chance to make plays," he said.
Their chance to make plays this weekend may be limited.They get set to face TCU (9-3, 22-11) -- currently third in C-USA -- for three games starting tonight at Nat Buring. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m.
"They're loaded with tremendous arms and talent that is probably in the top of our league," Schoenrock said. "I fully expect our guys to play with passion this weekend and they will."
Nat Buring hasn't been friendly to the team that calls it home.In 12 games this year, Memphis has only won two of them, and no one seems to know why.
"I don't know what to attribute that to," said Schoenrock.
However, the first year head coach said establishing a winning tread at home is important to the success of the team.
For a team still waiting to reach double-digit wins more than halfway through their season, there is a bright side.
In the past two weeks, twice they have held leads going into the seventh innings and also held two leads going into the fifth innings only to give them away.
"We always get a good lead in the beginning and I guess we sit down on the lead," Amar said.
Overall, the team gave off positive vibrations.
"We're going to keep fighting and keep playing hard," Senter said. "We never give up on (the season)."
