First American Road Trip this Weekend at USF

Friday, April 8

Tampa, Fla.

5:30 PM

University of Memphis

USF

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Apr 07, 2016 | Baseball

Tigers travel to Tampa, Fla. for three-game series with the USF Bulls

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Memphis hits the road looking to get back on track with a three-game American Athletic Conference series at USF. The Tigers and Bulls both come into the weekend having lost three straight games and dropping the first league series.

GAME INFORMATION:
Memphis (10-18) vs. USF (15-14)
Date: April 8-10, 2016
Location: Tampa, Fla.
Venue: USF Baseball Stadium
Twitter Updates: @MemphisBaseball

Friday, April 8 | 5:30 p.m. CT
Audio: WUMR 91.7 FM
Live Stats: GoUSFBulls.com
MEM: So. RHP Colton Hathcock (3-3, 3.83 ERA)
USF: Jr. RHP Phoenix Sanders (3-1, 1.96 ERA)

Saturday, April 9 | 5:30 p.m. CT
Audio: WUMR 91.7 FM
Video: BullsCast
Live Stats: GoUSFBulls.com
MEM: So. RHP Connor Alexander (2-3, 4.10 ERA)
USF: Jr. RHP Brandon Lawson (3-2, 2.11 ERA)

Sunday, April 10 | 11 a.m. CT
Audio: WUMR 91.7 FM
Live Stats: GoUSFBulls.com
MEM: Sr. RHP Matt Ferguson (3-4, 3.72 ERA)
USF: So. RHP Joe Cavallaro (4-0, 2.35 ERA)

Leading Off
• Memphis and USF both lost two-of-three to start American Athletic Conference play, with the Bulls losing on the road at Cincinnati.
• The Tigers got the best of the Bulls last season, winning three of the five meetings. Memphis won the regular season series at FedExPark, 2-1, and lost the AAC Championship opener before eventually knocking USF out of the tournament in the rematch.
• The Tigers are having a similar start as the 2012 team that opened with a 12-17 record and went on to win 12 of the final 15 regular season games to end the year with a 31-28 record.
• Preseason All-American Nolan Blackwood recorded his 21st career save and tied the program record for career saves with Jonathan Van Eaton who pitched from 2010-13.
• Darien Tubbs, the preseason American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, has rebounded nicely from a tough stretch a few weeks ago. Tubbs has his batting average back over .300 after it had dipped as low as .233.
• Jake Little is shining at the plate in his senior season for the Tigers. The four-year Memphis player is batting a team-high .333 with 17 RBI and 21 runs scored after suffering an injury-plagued season in 2014.
• Jacob Elliott has started the last 13 games at first base for Memphis and is batting .279 with 16 RBI and nine runs scored.
• Memphis stands in the top 30 in the NCAA with 45 stolen bases this season. The Tigers have been successful on the base paths as an entire team and no Memphis player is in the top 50 in the country in stolen bases.
• Despite not having a triple in the last five games, Memphis is still top-10 nationally with 12 triples.
• WUMR 92-FM carries the radio broadcasts throughout the season. Jeff Brightwell, who is joined by Greg Gaston for home games, will be on the call.
• The Memphis baseball program is in its fourth season as a partner with Baden Sports and swings the Axe Bat exclusively.

The Series with USF
Memphis trails the all-time series to USF, 22-17, despite winning three of the five meetings last season. The Tigers actually hold a slim, 17-15, lead since losing the first seven meetings of the series dating back to 1996. The two teams met every year from 1996 to 2005 but went nine years before renewing the series when the teams joined the American Athletic Conference. Memphis leads USF 5-4 since 2014 as a members of the American.

Scouting the Bulls
USF went on the road to start conference play and took Game 1 over Cincinnati before dropping the series in a pair of one-run games. The Bulls got quality starts from each member of their rotation, which was been solid most of the season. USF also has an ace in the bullpen with Tommy Eveld who has a 0.95 ERA and six saves. The team has had some offensive struggles though, averaging less than five runs per game and batting just .246 as team. The teams leading offensive returners Kevin Merrell, Luke Maglich, Levi Borders and Luke Borders have all had slow starts to the season. Maglich has been the most productive of the group so far, batting .280 with 12 RBI and 15 runs scored.

Youth on the Mound
The names Jonathan Bowlan, Alex Hicks, James Muse, Colton Neel, Alex Smith and Hunter Smith are ones that Memphis baseball fans can likely expect to hear for years to come. These six freshmen have already contributed on the mound for the Tigers early in their collegiate careers. They have combined to make 41 appearances with and log 70 2/3 innings. Only the Memphis sophomore class, which includes starters Connor Alexander and Colton Hathcock, has pitched more innings this season. As can be expected with some inexperienced arms, they have been wild at times with 41 walks, 10 hit batters and 17 wild pitches. 75% of the Tigers' innings pitched have come from either a freshman or sophomore.

Speed on the Bases
Memphis hasn't been as consistent offensively as they would have liked this season, but the team has still managed to swipe 45 of-56 bases which ranks them in the top-30 nationally. Darien Tubbs leads the team with 11 stolen bases, while Jake Little and Chris Carrier are just behind him with eight swiped bags apiece. In all, nine different Tigers have at least one stolen base.

Catching Carousel
In the search to replace Carter White, who started 52 games and batted .277 in 2015, the Tigers have seen three players split time behind the plate this season. Senior Damo DeMatteo has been in the starting lineup 13 times and appeared in 19 games while freshman Jason Santana has made 10 starts and played in 20 games. In an attempt to get more offensive production from the position, senior Corey Chafin has made five of his 15 starts at catcher.

Chicks Dig the... Triple?
Memphis stands in the top 15 in the NCAA with 12 triples through the midway point of the season. With four triples apiece, Darien Tubbs and Zach Schritenthal are tied for tenth in the nation individually. Tubbs now has 12 career triples, which is the third most in school history, and is three shy of tying the program record set by K.K. Chalmers from 2005-08. The Tigers also accomplished something they haven't done in a game since 1986 when they hit three triples in the 23-0 win over Eastern Illinois. With 29 scheduled games remaining, Memphis is on pace to crush last season's total of 16 triples and could eclipse the school record of 25 set in 1981.

Defensive Woes
Head Coach Daron Schoenrock preaches about limiting the amount of "freebies" that the tigers give up during a game. Through 28 games his team has had a few too many defensive miscues. The Tigers have 42 errors and are fielding .961. Memphis does have the ability to play clean though and has played seven errorless games with a 5-2 record in those games.

Bounce Back
Sometimes players can put too much pressure on themselves and one could wonder if that was the case for Darien Tubbs, who was named the American Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year. After starting the season with an eight-game hitting streak and four multiple-hit games, he hit a rough patch and amassed just one hit over the next seven games. Tubbs' batting average dipped to .233 and he was left out of the starting lineup against UAPB on March 15 for the first time in 76 games dating back to 2014. Tubbs is currently riding a six-game hitting streak and has a hit in 11 of the 12 games since returning to the lineup. His batting average is back above .300 for the first time since early March.

Blackwood in the Record Book
The preseason accolades were heaped on junior closer Nolan Blackwood as well, and despite a few struggles of his own this season he still has recorded four saves to tie the program record for career saves with 21. He is tied with Jonathan Van Eaton, who pitched for the Tigers from 2010-13. Blackwood already holds the school record for saves in a season after he notched 14 last year.