University of Memphis Athletics
Baseball Set For C-USA Championship Action
May 25, 2010 | Baseball
May 25, 2010
2010 C-USA Baseball Championship notes 
HOUSTON - The University of Memphis baseball team will open the 2010 C-USA Championship on Wed., May 26 when it takes on second-seed Southern Miss at 11 a.m. at Houston's Cougar Field. The Tigers will battle Marshall at 3 p.m. on Thurs., May 27, before wrapping up round-robin play versus East Carolina on Fri., May 28 at 11 a.m.
Scouting the Tigers
With a 12-12 mark in Conference USA play, head coach Daron Schoenrock's club has secured its highest-ever finish since the inception of the league in 1996. The Tiger's previous highest finish came in 2006, when they entered the league's postseason field as the No. 4 seed.
Memphis won four of its eight league series, including wins over No. 1 seed Rice and No. 4 seed Marshall. For the first time since the 1995 season, the Tigers were not swept in a weekend set. Memphis finished the regular season 27-27 and went on to win the 1995 Great Midwest Conference Tournament.
The Tigers are led by its five postseason award winners Ryan Fraser, Tyler Huelsing, Brennon Martin, Drew Martinez and Chad Zurcher.
The 1-2-3 punch of Martinez, Zurcher and Huelsing has accounted for 160 runs and 146 RBI. Martinez, who bats .389, leads C-USA with 96 hits and is on pace to become just the second Tiger ever to reach the 100-hit milestone in a single season. The Second Team All-C-USA selection leads the team with 60 runs and has 41 RBI in the leadoff position. Zurcher, who is also a Second Team pick, leads the club with a .396 batting average. He ranks in the top-10 in C-USA in hits (86) and stolen bases (19). Huelsing is third on the squad with a .351 batting average. The senior, who was named a Second Team All-C-USA member, has had a breakout year, with 65 RBI, 16 doubles and 11 home runs.
Fraser and Martin lead the Memphis pitching staff into the round-robin tournament with a combined 13 wins. Fraser (7-3) leads the team with seven wins and ranks second in C-USA with 93 strikeouts. The three-time C-USA Pitcher of the Week honoree earned C-USA All-Academic honors on Monday and was named a Second Team All-C-USA pick earlier today. The righthander will toe the rubber as the Tigers starter in Wednesday's contest versus Southern Miss.
Martin leads the Memphis pitching staff and ranks in the top-10 in C-USA with a 4.61 ERA. The Memphis native also rates as one of the league's top pitchers with 61 strikeouts in 84 innings. Martin picked up his fifth win of the year on Friday and now has 19 career victories.
Scouting Southern Miss
Southern Miss took two out of three from Memphis to grab hold of the second seed in this year's C-USA Championship. The Golden Eagles are a solid club and have put up impressive number both at the plate and on the mound. Southern Miss placed four players on C-USA's First Team--Collin Cargill, Scott Copeland, Todd McInnins and B.A. Vollmuth.
The Golden Eagles sport one of the league's most potent offenses, ranking second in the C-USA with a .327 team batting average, 462 runs and 426 RBI.
The offensive push is led by Vollmuth. The sophomore shortstop leads the club and ranks in the top-10 in the conference in hitting (.383, 6th), runs (65, 2nd), doubles (17, 5th), total bases (134, 4th), slugging (.699, 4th), hits (80, 8th), RBI (63, 5th) and home runs (15, 4th). Adam Doleac and Taylor Walker hit .365 and .361, respectively. Doleac ranks 10 in the league in hitting, while Walker is seventh with 57 runs scored.
Weekend starters Copeland and McInnis lead the pitching staff. McInnis is the league leader with a 2.91 ERA and a .215 opponent's batting average. He ranks third with 85 strikeouts. Copeland, Wednesday's starter, is 9-0 on the year, with a 3.91 ERA. He is among the league's top pitchers with a .272 opponent's batting average in 78.1 innings of work. Cargill has nine saves.
All-Time Series vs. Southern Miss
Memphis is 4-7 all-time against Southern Miss in conference tournament. The Tigers are 2-4 against the Golden Eagles in C-USA Tournaments and 2-3 in five matchups in the Metro Tournament. The two clubs split a pair of meetings in the 2006 C-USA Tournament. Memphis eliminated Southern Miss, 8-5, to advance to the semifinal round. The U of M trails USM in the all-time series 41-48 after the Golden Eagles took two of three in last weekend's final series of the C-USA regular season in Hattiesburg. The Tigers' 41 wins against the Golden Eagles are the most against a C-USA opponent. Memphis claimed its lone series victory against the Golden Eagles in 2009. That set Southern Miss off on a College World Series run. USM swept Memphis in 2008. Prior to that sweep, the Tigers had won two-straight series versus USM. Memphis swept the series in 2007 and took two games in Hattiesburg in 2006.
Scouting Marshall
Four Marshall players earned postseason honors. Pitcher Arik Sikula was joined by catcher Victor Gomez and outfielder Kurt Lipton on the All-C-USA First Team. Kirby Pellant was named to the All-Freshman Team.
Sikula leads the Marshall pitching staff that has a collective 6.24 ERA. He is second in the league with a stingy 3.33 ERA and third with a .246 opponent's batting average. Marshall pitchers hold opponent's to a .292 clip at the plate. Closer Austin Coan leads C-USA with a11 saves in 25 relief appearances.
At the plate, the Herd relies heavily on the big-hitting Gomez. The backstop hits .363 and leads the team with 139 total bases, 60 RBI and 16 home runs. Lipton leads the team and ranks ninth in the league with a .375 batting average. The senior also leads the league with seven triples, while ranking in the top-10 in total bases and slugging percentage.
All-Time Series vs. Marshall
Thursday's meeting will be the first time that Memphis and Marshall have met in postseason play. In a series that began in 2006, Marshall holds an 8-7 advantage. Memphis rebounded from a series-opening loss on Friday night and used a doubleheader sweep to clinch the 2010 season series in Charleston, W.Va. Memphis swept the 2006 set, but has dropped each of the last three league series. Marshall took two-of-three in 2007 and 2009. The Herd swept the season series in 2008.
Scouting East Carolina
At 31-25, ECU is the sixth-seed in this year's tournament. The Pirates went just 3-7 over their last 10 C-USA games.
East Carolina's pitching duo of Seth Maness and Zach Woods hauled in Pitcher of the Year and Newcomer of the Year honors, respectively, while Kyle Roller was named to the league's First Team. Corey Thompson earned Second Team All-C-USA recognition and John Wooten was tabbed an All-Freshman performer.
Behind Maness and Woods, the Pirates showcase one of the league top pitching staffs with a 5.28 ERA, a .290 opponent's batting average and a league-high 463 strikeouts. Maness leads C-USA nine wins in 93.2 innings. Woods 95 strikeouts is tops in the conference. Maness ranks in the top-10 among C-USA pitchers with a 4.52 ERA and 82 strikeouts. Woods, who is 8-4, rates among the league's best hurlers, holding opposing hitters to a .263 batting average. Closer Seth Simmons is tied for second in Conference USA with nine saves.
Thompson's .378 batting average leads the way for an ECU club that hits .319 as a team. He paces the squad with 82 hits, 59 runs and 54 RBI--all totals ranking in the league's top-10. Roller, a .331 hitter, leads the league with 59 walks and is tied for fifth in C-USA with 17 doubles. Devin Harris hits .315 with a club-high 18 doubles, while Zach Wright's 13 homers are tied for sixth in C-USA. ECU has hit 76 home runs in 2010.
All-Time Series vs. East Carolina
Like Marshall, Memphis has never faced East Carolina in the C-USA Championship. The Pirates lead the all-time series 22-5 and has won eight of the nine series, including each of the last four. In the 2010 series, the Tigers edged the Pirates on Friday night, but ECU spoiled the FedExPark Grand Opening with a 20-9 win in game two, before clinching the series with a 3-2 decision in the finale. ECU swept Memphis in 2007 and 2009. The Tigers most memorable win over the Pirates came in 2008 when Neil Schenk earned a win in his final collegiate game and Memphis' final game at Nat Buring Stadium. The U of M's lone series win over ECU came in 2006, when the Tigers swept the league's final series, 9-6, 14-6, and 11-10. An offensive extravaganza, Memphis got a walk-off grand slam in the series, a six-hit day by Adam Amar and the program's last back-to-back-to-back home runs--accomplished by Cory Barton, K.K. Chalmers and Will Petersen.
Tournament History
Memphis is 9-15 all-time in C-USA Tournament games. The Tigers made semifinal appearances in 2001, 2006 and 2007. Memphis is 4-8 all-time against this year's field. The Tigers are 3-4 all-time in tournament games played in Houston (1-2 at UH and 2-2 at Rice). The last Memphis played in the conference tournament at the University of Houston, it opened the 2004 C-USA Championship with a 10-5 win over Southern Miss, but was sent to the loser's bracket after squandering a late lead to UAB. The Golden Eagles exacted revenge on the Tigers, ending their season with a 13-0 blowout.
