The University of Memphis baseball team (25-16 overall, 9-6 Conference USA) needs about 10 more wins to have a legitimate shot to qualify for an NCAA tournament regional bid for the first time since 1994, according to Coach Daron Schoenrock.
"I still think it will take 34 to 36 wins out of our program to get an at-large (bid)," Schoenrock said. "I know we've got 15 regular season games left plus the (conference) tournament to get there."
The Tigers, ranked No. 46 in the RPI, took a step backwards in its effort to accomplish that goal this weekend by losing two of three games at Marshall by a combined score of 32-7. The Thundering Herd (16-28, 2-9 C-USA) entered the series without a conference win before exploding on the Tigers.
After securing a 5-3 win Friday night at Nat Buring Stadium, the Tigers committed five errors and surrendered 19 hits en route to a 21-7 thrashing at the hands of Marshall on Saturday. Sophomore starting pitcher Scott McGregor allowed nine runs, only three of which were earned, in 1.1 innings of action. Memphis found itself behind 13-2 after three innings and was unable to chip away at the deficit.
"(McGregor has) been lights out at times and so-so at times," Schoenrock said. "Some weeks it's been (his) command. I thought he threw really well against Tulane in the win down there. What hurt him this weekend is he didn't make a couple pitches in the first inning, and we didn't make a couple of plays. It was just an unbelievable momentum shift in the wrong direction this weekend. Sometimes there is nothing you can do as a player or coach to change that. It's just the thing of baseball."
Marshall trounced the Tigers again on Sunday by a score of 11-0. Memphis dug itself into an early hole for the second straight day when freshman Garrett Hatchel walked the first three hitters he faced before giving up a grand slam to Thundering Herd clean-up man Nick Casamassima.
"It was two bad first innings, and it was hard to recapture momentum," Schoenrock said. "The first game on Saturday we didn't make a couple of plays, and it allowed the big inning to happen. Sunday, we walked the first three guys of the game and gave up a grand slam. So right from the outset, you've done a couple of things to help the opposition and nothing to help yourself."
In what has been a bit of an up and down season, the Tigers have had six streaks this season of either three or more wins or three or more losses.
Schoenrock said he would like to see more consistency, but he also said he is not too worried about the Marshall series.
"Hopefully it's just a two-day bump in the road. This has been a real resilient team this year."
Memphis is in third place in the C-USA standings, trailing first place Rice by four games. The two clubs will meet in a regular season, three-game series finale in Houston at the end of May.
In the meantime, Memphis will hit the road for a midweek series against Southeast Missouri beginning tonight at 6 p.m. before heading home to face Ole Miss next Wednesday at AutoZone Park.
Despite the rough outing against Marshall, the Tigers remain optimistic and in contention for a league title.
"Our guys have put themselves in a position where they're kind of scoreboard watching and that is different grounds for this program," Schoenrock said. "We're still in a building process, but they really feel like they want to be the team that changes the 14- year drought of being in a regional."
