The University of Memphis baseball team will take on conference foe, the no. 20 ranked Houston Cougars (20-9, 1-2 American Athletic Conference) in a three-game series at FedExPark starting Thursday.
This is the only time Memphis and Houston will face off in this season. Last year, Houston took the series 2-1 over the Tigers in Houston.
Memphis baseball coach Daron Schoenrock knows his team has a challenge ahead of them, but is focused on not working his squad too much with only one day between games.
“They’re good,” Schoenrock said in a postgame interview. “We got to be smart on how we work the team tomorrow (Wednesday). We are going to have a short up-tempo practice and then get them off their feet.”
The Tigers (17-7, 2-1 AAC) are coming off a 7-5 loss to the Ole Miss Rebels on Tuesday. Memphis began the game well with a 3-0 lead after two innings, but the Rebels took over the game in the fifth inning. Ole Miss scored three runs in the fifth to tie it, and racked up another three-run inning in the seventh to take the lead for good.
Coach Schoenrock said his team’s energy is very high, but he can tell there is some fatigue.
“There is a little bit of tiredness,” he said. “I felt like we were a little tired today understandably, but again the dugout was very good. The energy in the dugout was good. We got a little bit non-competitive off the first reliever that came in. We didn’t make quick enough adjustments.”
Right fielder Chris Carrier led the way for the Tigers. He went 3-4 at the plate, including a double and his second career home run. The sophomore finished with two RBIs.
Freshman Colton Hathcock only pitched one inning for the Tigers, but was attributed with the loss for giving up three runs in the seventh. Ole Miss’ relief pitcher Matt Denney was credited the win.
Houston is coming off a huge shutout victory over Baylor. The Cougars scored 11 runs off of 11 hits. Third baseman Justin Montemayor led the way for Houston, posting two doubles, three RBIs and a run on 2-5 hitting. Shortstop Connor Wong also had a very strong performance against Baylor. The freshman scored two runs on a 3-5 performance at the plate.
Senior pitcher David Longville was credited with the win. The senior pitched five shutout innings, striking out two batters and giving up only six hits.
The Cougars enter Thursday’s game with three batters averaging over .300 on the year. Junior Chris Iriart leads the team with a .365 bating average through 104 at bats. Iriart has also racked up 27 runs, 21 RBIs and a team high eight homeruns. Josh Vidales has also posted an impressive batting average this season, at .364 through 107 at bats. Vidales racked up 26 runs, along with 22 RBIs. Junior Jacob Campbell is also batting over the .300 clip, at .304 on the season through 79 at bats.
The Tigers enter Thursday’s with some impressive hitters of their own. Four different Tigers are batting above .300. Redshirt senior Kane Barrow leads the Tigers with an incredible .379 batting average through 95 at bats. Barrow has also scored 13 runs this season. Zach Schritenthal, a sophomore infielder, is batting .338 through 71 at bats.
Sophomore outfielder Darien Tubbs, is batting .337 through 89 at bats. The sophomore also leads the team in runs with 28 on the year. Senior Tucker Tubbs has also eclipsed the .300 mark this year. The infielder is batting .302 this season through 86 at bats. He also leads the team with 24 RBIs.
Last season, the Tigers began the year strong, but struggled during conference play posting a 8-16 record. The Tigers have played extremely well to start the 2015 season, but will need a much better record against conference opponents if it wants to make it to postseason play this year.
The Tigers will take the mound against Houston Thursday at FedExPark at 6:30 p.m. The two teams will continue the series at FedExPark Friday evening at 6:30 and at noon on Saturday.
