University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
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Mississippi State
Tiger Baseball Drops Fourth Straight, 9-8 at Mississippi State
Mar 28, 2007 | Baseball
Mississippi State 9, Memphis 8
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March 27, 2007
Box Score
STARKVILLE, Miss. -
Memphis (14-10) 031 301 000 - 8 15 2 Mississippi State (15-6) 300 005 001 - 9 8 0
Mississippi State's Joseph McCaskill blooped a bases loaded single into right centerfield to score Jeffrey Rea and give the Bulldogs a 9-8 win over Memphis Tuesday night at Dudy Noble Stadium. The loss was the fourth-straight for the Tigers, who fall to 14-10 on the year.
Rea led off the ninth with a sharp single up the middle and Edward Easley drew a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs. Mitch Moreland then reached on a Tiger error for a sac bunt. With the based jammed, McCaskill provided the game-winner.
Memphis squandered a lead of as many as five runs for the second time in four outings after jumping out to what looked like a commanding 8-3 cushion in the sixth inning. The Tigers used doubles by Chris Kirkland and Will Petersen to take the five-run lead. But State answered with what proved to be the difference-making frame. Moreland was hit by a Lance Scoggins offering and McCaskill followed with a single to right. Brian LaNinfa was then plunked by Scoggins to load the bases. Connor Powers' sac fly to left scored Moreland to cut the Tiger advantage to 8-4. Brandon Turner followed a Mark Goforth walk with the big blast of the night--a grand slam over the left centerfield wall that knotted the tilt at 8-8.
The Bulldogs, who have defeated Memphis in seven consecutive meetings, got on the board with three runs in the first on the strength of a run-scoring single by McCaskill and a two-run blast by LaNinfa.
Memphis countered with three runs of its own. Joey Lieberman led off the inning with a double and scored on a single by Michael Murray. Following a ground-rule double off the bat of Adam Amar, Ben Grisham drove in two of his four RBI with a double to the left center gap.
Bill Moss' eighth home run of the year put Memphis up 4-3 and a towering two-run shot by Grisham made it 6-3. Moss gave the Tigers a 7-3 lead when he scored Kirkland on an RBI groundout.
Tiger starter Lance Scoggins put forth his best outing of the year, allowing just three hits and fanning six in five innings. Reliever Dusty Davis was tagged with the loss after giving up the game-winning run. He tossed 2.1 innings and gave up just one hit.
Bulldog reliever Ricky Bowen was the winner. Starter, Tyler Whitney, a Memphis-area product was touched up for six runs in three innings by the U of M offense.
Amar, Petersen and Kirkland led the Memphis offense with three hits each. Grisham drove in four in a 2-for-4 effort. McCaskill and Rea were the lone MSU hitters to post multiple hits.
The two squads will matchup for the series finale on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
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