After two games slipped by the Tigers in Tampa, Fla., the University of Memphis baseball team left the University of South Florida Baseball Stadium with a win on Sunday to avoid the series sweep.
A huge sixth inning led the Tigers to victory as they rallied behind the Bulls' mistakes in the frame.
After freshman infielder Zach Schritenthal reached on an error to lead off the sixth, USF's pitcher plunked the next two batters to load the bases with nobody out. A wild pitch scored one runner and Kane Barrow's double plated two more runs to give the Tigers the lead.
Four subsequent hits added three more runs and the Tigers held a 7-3 advantage. Head coach Daron Schoenrock said that big innings are one constant in baseball that typically points to a win.
"If you can have a big inning with three or more runs, your win percentage goes up to 70 percent," Schoenrock said. "Offensively you are always looking for them, and they can start in a number of ways. Ours was started with an error and five hits in a row, which does not happen a lot."
Another spark for the Tigers was lead-off hitter Darien Tubbs. The freshman led off for the first time since April 13. He has scored 27 runs this year and leads the team in stolen bases with 17.
"This weekend his at-bats were as competitive as anyone on the team," Schoenrock said. "He scored on a shallow fly ball that not a lot of guys would have scored on. He has a knack for scoring runs when he gets on base."
Despite allowing 17 hits in Sunday's contest, the Tigers held the Bulls to five runs, and stranded 10 of their runners, in large part due to the five double plays. Schoenrock said the double plays were a result of quality pitches located low in the strike zone.
"We missed two double play opportunities Friday and Saturday that we did not convert," Schoenrock said. "It always seems like when you miss double plays the other team is going to score. Sunday we were inducing ground balls at double play times."
Five is the most double plays the Tigers have forced in a single game this season. Aside from both games at Middle Tennessee State University the first and second of this month, the Tigers have not forced more than two in any game this year.
With eight of the next 11 games at FedEx Park, the U of M has a solid stretch of home games leading up to the American Athletic Conference Championship Tournament. Coach Schoenrock said that this is an important time for the team to focus at home, especially as the players look to finish the year strong academically and on the field.
"What I'm selling is that we need to take it one day at a time," Schoenrock said. "We did a really good job of that this weekend, as tough as the losses were Friday and Saturday to come back Sunday was huge."
The Tigers' game against Mississippi Valley State set for Tuesday was postponed due to rain, but they are still scheduled to play Wednesday's matchup at 6:30 p.m.
