University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
Tulane (C-USA Tournament)
Baseball suffers first loss in 2001 C-USA FedEx Tournament
May 19, 2001 | Baseball
May 19, 2001
METAIRIE, La. - Despite overcoming a three-run deficit with a five-run outburst in the bottom of the sixth, the University of Memphis Tiger baseball team (34-23) dropped a 7-6 heartbreaker in 13 innings to the #6 ranked Green Wave of Tulane (48-10) on Saturday afternoon, during the semi-finals of the 2001 C-USA FedEx tournament.
Memphis actually led 6-4, entering the top of the ninth but a late rally from Tulane killed the chance for a perfect 3-0 record for the Tigers, heading into the championship round and kept the Green Wave alive for at least one more game. The Tigers will now face the Wave one more time this evening in an elimination game, with the winner advancing to the championship round tomorrow, against either Sothern Miss or South Florida. Earlier today, South Florida staged a comeback of the their own, defeating USM 6-4 in the first game of the semi-final round.
Memphis is now 0-1 in extra-inning affairs after participating in the longest game in C-USA tournament history. Prior to this game, the longest contest within C-USA tournament play was 10 innings which most recently occurred during the South Floida-Louisville contest, yesterday.
Daniel Uggla and Tyler Shelton each came through with huge extra-base hits for the Tigers during the sixth inning comeback with Uggla slamming a two-run triple while Shelton connected for a three-run blast that gave the Tigers a late advantage.
Tulane was held to just one hit until the top of the third when the Green Wave came through with four singles which scored three runs and opened up a 3-0 lead.
Tulane starter Beau Richardson had a no-hitter going until the bottom of the sixth but Uggla's two-run triple into left-center broke the streak and helped begin a rally that scored five unearned but critical runs across the plate. The rally was actually keyed by a Green Wave fielding error, Uggla's third triple of the season and Shelton's three-run bomb (fifth) which bounced off the wall in left and then just like that, the Tigers had control 5-3.
Then in the seventh, the Wave washed through after Jake Gautreau's sac-fly scored Scott Madden from third which narrowed the gap, 5-4. The very same inning the Tigers pushed the score up by one more, after Paul Reuer's sac-fly scored Ryan O'Malley from the third and made it a 6-4 game. The Tigers held strong in the eighth but during the ninth, the Wave evened things up with a couple of walks, a sac-fly and then Michael Aubrey's RBI double for the tying run, knotting the game at six, heading into extra innings.
The U of M had a chance for the win during the bottom of the 11th inning but Barrett Smith (White Station HS) was thrown out tying to score the winning run from first, after Shelton ripped a two-out single to shallow centerfield. Both squads held close for the next inning-and-a-half, until Jon Kaplan came up during the top half of the 13th to pinch-hit and went on to drill a solo shot over the wall in left, off closer Josh Payne which proved to be the game-winner. Memphis had a chance late in the bottom half, after Uggla hit a one-out double down the leftfield line but Smith popped up to the shortstop and then Shelton flied out to deep center to end the game.
Both teams square off again tonight, approximately 40 minutes after the conclusion of the South Florida-Southern Miss contest which was just underway at 5:10 p.m.
