University of Memphis baseball team (1-3) opens up their second weekend series of the season starting on Friday, as the Dayton Flyers (3-1) come to town.
The Tigers have lost three straight games as their recent loss came on Wednesday night at the Central Arkansas University. They lost by a score of 3-5 in what was an early deficit that the Tigers could not overcome.
Memphis Tigers
Memphis baseball are having a start to the season many probably did not think that would happen. Many of the players were optimistic about the season and how they have so many weapons and experience that would help, but so far it has not been the case.
Tigers are letting their opponent score on them in their last two games giving up 9 in the last meeting with Xavier last weekend and 5 (in one inning) to the Bears or UCA on Wednesday.
Sophomore phenom, Hunter Goodman, has had a slow start to his second season with batting just .284 and only four hits on 14 at bats appearances.
Memphis will need their preseason National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Preseason All-American to turn things around when Dayton comes to town this weekend.
One bright spot for the Tigers so far has been Junior infielder, Ben Brooks, at the bat. He is hitting .462 while having six hits, two home runs and four RBI that leads the team.
On the mound, the Tigers are led by Danny Denz. The lefty stands at 1-0 on the season and has yet to allow a hit while striking out five on the young season. Look for the senior to keep things rolling against the Flyers.
Dayton Flyers
The Dayton Flyers are having a hot start to their season, and the bats for the Flyers are on fire. Junior second baseman, Mariano Ricciardi, is batting .471 with eight hits at 17 at bat appearances. He has collected five runs and two RBI. Ricciardi has also been walked four times so far this season.
After the Ricciardi, there is four guys who is batting over .315 in Marcus Pujols, Jared Howell, Riley Tirotta and Benjamin Blackwell. That right there is a lot of offense for a baseball team.
The Flyers have scored a minimum of 9 runs in three of their four games this season.
Dayton will like to keep the offensive pace going against the Tigers team who has been struggling to create runs. The Flyers pitchers have a total of 52 stirkeouts with senior LHP (left-handed pitcher), Hunter Wolfe, leading the way with 14.
More than likely we will see the senior face the Tigers this weekend and Memphis could be in a world of trouble unless they can wake their bats up.
Dayton ranks in 10th in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings, averaging 13.2 over the first weekend.
Overall
Memphis has their hands full this weekend as the fresh Dayton Flyers come to town. The Flyers have not played since last Sunday, whereas, the Tigers are coming off a Wednesday trip from Central Arkansas.
The boys in blue will need to bring a since of energy in order to pull out some wins because the Dayton bats are rolling. Huge pitcher match-up between Denz and Wolfe will be a good one to watch as well.
The series will start on Friday at 2 p.m. and will go on to Saturday at 2 p.m. and conclude on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Ben Brooks on base against Xavier on Feb. 15, 2020. Brooks leads the team with a .462 batting average.
