Experience is key in all facets of life and in sports it’s no different. The Tigers’ baseball team hopes their tried and tested core will pay dividends for them as they look to get back into the postseason for the first time since 2007.
Memphis completed their first season in the American Athletic Conference and finished in 8th place last season. The Tigers went 8-16 in conference play, but finished 30-29 on the season giving them their fourth straight 30-win season. Memphis is returning eight starters and 19 letter winners from last season’s squad, which will give them plenty of optimism heading into this season.
Coach Daron Schoenrock , who’s lead the Memphis baseball team for 11 seasons, is only two wins away from his 300 victory as coach. He also praised the seniors for helping the freshman out during the preseason. He expects the senior class to contribute heavily this season.
“(We have) guys that played everyday. Guys that have filled pretty big pitching roles from the previous season,” Schoenrock said. “So I’m hopeful that the experience provides good leadership for this group.”
As far as the Tigers’ preparation, he said the team’s preseason preparation went well. The weather’s allowed for practice outside which is unusual for this part of the country, Schoenrock said.
“From a skill standpoint the players are ready,” Schoenrock said. “We’ve had a lot of live work on the field and we’ve had a lot of inner-squad scrimmages. The coaching staff’s had the ability to evaluate a lot more than normal for this time of year.”
Not even the Christmas-break down time has slowed the team down, Schoenrock explained.
“They had to get back in pretty good shape. So on the first day of team practice we actually have a live inner-squad scrimmage,” Schoenrock said. “We didn’t give them a lot of preparation time. They had to prepare on their own and they did a very good job during the Christmas holiday.”
With all of the experience and preparation the Tigers feel like they finally have the right balance between experienced pitching and hitting this season. This will increase the team’s depth and make a significant impact in what kind of season the Tigers will have, the coach said.
Leading Memphis at the top of rotation will be senior pitcher and co-captain Caleb Wallingford. He’ll be Friday’s starter. Junior Collin Lee will start on Saturdays and senior Dylan Toscano on Sundays.
Wallingford led the three pitchers in wins last season going 6-5 with a 2.44 ERA in 14 starts. He earned an All-Conference honor for last season’s performance.
Lee started 12 games last season, going 2-4 with one save and a 4.90 ERA. Toscano went 4-4, also started 12 games and had a 4.79 ERA.
Everyone in college baseball has dominant starting pitching what will stand the Tigers apart from the crowd is their bullpen, the coach said.
“A lot of game decisions are thrown to the bullpen and we’re experienced in it,” Schoenrock said. “We’ve got four or five guys down there who will be shutdown type guys. Our team will have a lot of confidence when they enter a game.”
A few players Memphis will be counting on to finish games off in their favor are redshirt senior Blake Myers, redshirt junior Craig Caufield and sophomore Nolan Blackwood. The trio combined for 72 appearances for the Tigers last season.
“Those three guys will probably be the guys to attack the last six outs of the game,” Schoenrock said. “So we feel really good about the eighth and ninth innings.”
Wallingford said with this pitching staff there isn’t just one guy. They have a collection of guys who can get outs at all times.
“The great thing about our pitching staff is that it’s not just one guy or two guys carrying the whole load,” Wallingford said. “We have a collection of 10-12 guys who are capable of getting outs at all times.”
The Tigers will be returning their three best bats from last season: redshirt outfielder Kane Barrow, junior Jake Little and senior catcher Carter White. Barrow led the team with a .319 batting average and drove in 28 runs last season in 55 games. Little was second on the team in batting average with .308. He led the Tigers in home runs with five last season as well as RBI with 37. Finally, White batted .288 and drove in the second-most runs with 35.
However, the team aims to hit more power this season.
“I’d like to see if our power numbers can improve a little bit over last year,” he said. “That’s not necessarily just all home runs. That’s doubles, and being able to hit doubles. We run the bases outstanding. So far our power has been better. A lot of times when guys get older power shows up and I’m hoping that’s going to happen (this season).”
Schoenrock also said he doesn't think any of the players will force hitting for more power because they trust each other having played together for awhile now.
“I don’t think any of them are going to worry about if I don’t get the job it’s not going to get done,” Schoenrock said. “They trust each other and especially in RBI moments. If I don’t get it in I got a teammate that can back me up and get him in and take the pressure off themselves and spread a little through the whole component of the lineup. It takes maturity for a team to do that.”
One of the players who are in that established core is senior first baseman and co-captain Tucker Tubbs. Tubbs batted .244, registered 42 hits and 33 RBI last season. As a captain he’s willing to do anything to help his team win, he said.
“It’s just about helping out my team anyway they need me—no matter what it is,” Tubbs said. “Being captain again, it means a lot to be voted again by my teammates and I’m glad they look at me as a leader. It definitely means something special to me. I’ll hopefully do my best to lead this team to victories.”
One position in the batting lineup that is uncertain is the hitter’s position. Schoenrock said the plan is to rotate between three players: sophomore outfielder Chris Carrier, sophomore transfer first baseman Andy Bowman and junior catcher Corey Chafin. The three combine for only 36 at bats in a Memphis uniform, so the competition appears to be wide open.
“They’ll be the guys that get the first look at the DH spot,” Schoenrock said. “That DH position in college baseball is something you can use to give to certain bats to keep them fresh, and you can rotate that around when it comes to defense and shuffle those guys in and out. I’m not certain on who that person is going to be yet but we’re looking at those three guys in the early going.”
Nevertheless, typically hitting doesn't click right away. It’s important that the Tigers play good defense to offset the lack of timing early on in the season, the coach said.
“We spend a lot of time in the preseason preparation just getting the team ready to play defensively,” he said. “I know hitters and their timing is going to be a little bit strange. Usually takes a little time for the offense to get going but you want to make sure your team is ready to throw strikes on the mound, ready to defend the field and we call it dominate the routine play and make the plays you’re suppose to make and make the opponents earn everything they get.”
A few players who “dominated the routine play” last season was senior shortstop Ethan Gross and second baseman Zach Willis. As a result, the Tigers will have a much less experienced infield going into this season. Gross’ replacement will be junior Jake Overbey, a transfer from Ole Miss, and freshman Brian Montgomery will replace Willis at second.
They will also have a new third baseman in sophomore Zach Schritenthal. Schoenrock said he is not looking for hitting from those guys as much as just defense from his new look infield.
“We’re going to count on those three guys and really those three positions. The height of what they got to give us is defense,” He said. “That basis a lot of your decisions on who plays on the infield is who plays is who can dominate the routine play.”
As far as the overall goal for the Tigers baseball team this season it’s to make to Omaha for the College World Series, according to Schoenrock. He has been to Omaha as a pitching coach on the Georgia Bulldogs in the 1990 season and he said there is nothing like it.
“I’ve coached in it and I’ve been on a team that made it to Omaha,” Schoenrock said. “There’s nothing like it from the experience of a college baseball player to play at the highest pinnacle.”
Playing in the American gives the Tigers a chance to do that, according to him because the league is built to create a strong RPI and with the additions of East Carolina and Tulane it will be as competitive as the Tigers former conference, Conference USA.
“American Athletic Conference is baseball is outstanding and I expect our league to be a three or four-bid league,” Schoenrock said. “I’ve told people it’s a league that can get three or four teams in the regional and it’s a lot like old Conference USA, and that was a three bid league a lot of those years and I don’t see that being any different.”
The Tigers will kick off their 2015 season with a trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma and face Oral Roberts in a weekend series which starts on Feb.13 at 3 p.m. Memphis will have their first home game this season at FedExPark against Mississippi Valley State on Feb. 27.
