The University of Memphis baseball team continued its winning ways in its second series of American Athletic Conference play this season, taking two out of three games from nationally-ranked Houston at FedExPark this weekend.
The Tigers (19-8, 4-2 AAC) dropped the first contest of the three-game series, but bounced back with two straight victories over the No. 14 Cougars (21-11, 2-4 AAC) who were picked to win the conference by the league’s coaches prior to the start of the season.
Memphis scored only two runs in the series-opening loss, but logged seven hits and crushed multiple line drives that unluckily found their way to the back of the fielders’ gloves.
“I think our guys offensively can take away that we’re okay right now,” Memphis coach Daron Schoenrock said. “You saw a little bit more of Jake Little giving you good at-bats. I thought one of the at-bats where he fouled a bunch of balls off and lined out to center field that Jake’s getting closer, and that’s going to help this lineup.”
Little was one of the Tigers’ top hitters a season ago, but has played only eight games this year due to injury. In 22 at-bats in 2015, he’s batting just .136 with one RBI.
After the low-scoring 3-2 loss Thursday, Memphis was able to ramp up the offense and score 14 runs on 18 hits in an offensive explosion on Friday.
“We talked today with our hitters about more meaningful at bats,” Schoenrock said after Friday’s 14-6 win. “Sometimes a meaningful at bat is just battling with two strikes and working a deep count and moving the ball to the backside of the field. Even if it doesn’t do any damage it’s meaningful because it can change your next at bat on how they pitch you and what you’ve seen. I thought we had a lot of meaningful at bats today and that’s what gave us the chance to expand that lead late.”
The Tigers came roaring out of the gates in the 14-6 win with eight runs in the opening inning thanks in part to two Houston errors and a two-RBI double from senior first baseman Tucker Tubbs. The Cougars began to mount a comeback with late, but Memphis was able to shut the door with a three runs in the bottom of the eighth.
After the teams split the first two games of the series Saturday’s rubber match was tightly contested until the bottom of the fifth, when three Houston errors resulted in four Memphis runs to put the Tigers up 5-2. The Cougars were unable to close the gap, and Memphis piled on another run in the eighth by way of a Chris Carrier sacrifice fly that scored Zach Schritenthal on the way to the 6-2 win.
On Monday Memphis sophomore outfielder Chris Carrier was named the American Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week after batting .438 with five RBI in the series against Houston and the Tigers’ Mar. 31 loss to Ole Miss. For the season Carrier is hitting .260 with three home runs and 14 RBI in 96 at bats.
The Tigers’ next home game is Tuesday evening downtown at AutoZone Park against the 21-13 Mississippi State Bulldogs. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
Sophomore Chris Carrier was named American Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week for his strong performances last week. He recorded at least one hit in four straight games. Photo by David Minkin
