The Tigers Baseball Team took two games out of three from the Southeastern Louisiana Lions over the weekend to get the series win on the road in Hammond Louisiana and to improve to 11-9 on the season.
The Tigers opened the series with a win Friday night with a score of 4-3. Once SLU jumped out to a 3-2 lead in the 5th inning, Junior third baseman Logan Kohler would answer with a solo home run in the top of the 6th inning to tie the game. Kohler would eventually drive in the winning run as he hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Senior outfielder Anthony Hansen in the top of the 7th inning.
The Tigers' back half of the bullpen shined as Junior relief pitcher JT Durham entered the 6th inning and pitched three perfect innings. Junior closer Dalton Kendrick came in to shut it out for the Tigers in the 9th inning and earn his AAC-leading 5th save of the season.
“I came in and just tried to attack the zone and my defense made some great plays behind me. I just tried to get it to the next guy. I knew DK was going to come in for the ninth and he shut it down for us,” said Durham after the victory Friday.
Saturday afternoon was all Lions as they won 6-1. The Tigers scored their only run in the top of the 7th inning as Logan Kohler singled to center field to drive in Senior outfielder Brayland Skinner.
“I think we lacked a little bit on the competitive side of things,” said Tigers head coach, Kerrick Jackson. “Our hitters didn’t make any adjustments and their pitcher did a nice job of coming out and attacking us, we have to come out tomorrow and put ourselves in a position to win the series.”
Winning the series is just what the Tigers did as they won 8-2 in the rubber match on Sunday afternoon to take the series 2 games to 1 from the Lions.
The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the 4th inning and never looked back after a two-run single by Sophomore catcher Jonah Sutton. Memphis continued their scoring output with two more runs in the 7th inning with an RBI triple by Sophomore DH Cameron Benson, followed up by a single from Kohler to bring Benson home.
The Tigers continued their scoring in the 8th inning with 4 runs as the Lions threw a wild pitch to bring in a run followed up by Junior infielder Anthony Baskin bringing in a run. Kohler continued the scoring with a two-RBI single later in the inning.
The Tigers pitching shined as Freshman starting pitcher Seth Garner earned the first win of his career, throwing 6 2/3 innings with four strikeouts and zero walks.
“Great job by our guys today, coming out with a chance to win the series and capitalizing,” said Coach Jackson. “We had competitive at-bats. Guys made adjustments from one at-bat to the next and even during at-bats at times. Great pitching performance by Seth and Dalton. We played good defense, this is how we need to play, and if we do, we’ll be in a good position moving forward.”
The Tigers will be back at FedExPark this week for a six-game homestand, starting off against Arkansas-Little Rock. The first pitch will take place on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT.
