University of Memphis Athletics
Friday, March 10
Memphis, Tenn.
4:00 PM
University of Memphis
8-5
4
vs
3
Southern Illinois
7-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Southern Illinois
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
1
0
3
6
1
Memphis
0
1
0
1
0
0
1
0
1
4
7
3
Trela Blasts Tigers to Win with Walk-Off Homer
Mar 10, 2017 | Baseball
Freshman Alec Trela hit a ninth-inning homer to give the Tigers a 4-3 win
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Freshman shortstop Alec Trela blasted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Memphis a 4-3 win over Southern Illinois Friday night at FedExPark. The Tigers (8-5) will try to clinch the series win over the Salukis (7-6) Saturday at noon.
Memphis and Southern Illinois were tied 3-3 heading to the bottom of the ninth and the teams were one out away from heading to extra innings in the series opener. The freshman-phenom had other plans as he sent the first pitch he saw over the left field wall.
Trela had an outstanding day overall, going 3-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored. The Normal, Ill. native was also good defensively, helping to turn a clutch double play in the eighth inning.
Memphis starting pitcher Alex Hicks was solid again, pitching a career high seven innings and allowing two runs on four hits. He tied his career high with eight strikeouts.
Colton Hathcock pitched the final 1 2/3 innings and earned his first win of the season.
Memphis jumped in front in the second inning after a leadoff double by Tyler Webb. He advanced to third on a fly out by Colton Neel and scored on an RBI single up the middle by Trela.
SIU wrestled the lead away in the fourth inning after two hits and a walk. The big blow came on a two-run double to left field by right fielder Jake Hand.
The Tigers tied it right back up after Trent Turner singled and Webb walked to put two runners on with no outs. Neel sacrifice bunted the runners over and Trela drove in his second run of the game with a sacrifice fly to center field.
Memphis retook the lead in the seventh inning and yet again Trela was involved. The freshman shortstop smashed a double to left field and hustled to third base on an error by the right fielder. Jason Santana drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left field to make the score 3-2.
The pesky Salukis came right back again and tied the game 3-3 off of reliever Blake Bennett. SIU started the inning with a walk, then an errant pickoff throw moved the runner to third and an RBI single brought home the tying run.
Hathcock was called on to get the Tigers out of the jam and needed just two pitches to turn a 1-6-3 double play to end the inning. After a scoreless top of the ninth, he recorded the win.
The teams will play again Saturday at noon and the series finale is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m.
Memphis and Southern Illinois were tied 3-3 heading to the bottom of the ninth and the teams were one out away from heading to extra innings in the series opener. The freshman-phenom had other plans as he sent the first pitch he saw over the left field wall.
Trela had an outstanding day overall, going 3-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored. The Normal, Ill. native was also good defensively, helping to turn a clutch double play in the eighth inning.
Memphis starting pitcher Alex Hicks was solid again, pitching a career high seven innings and allowing two runs on four hits. He tied his career high with eight strikeouts.
Colton Hathcock pitched the final 1 2/3 innings and earned his first win of the season.
Memphis jumped in front in the second inning after a leadoff double by Tyler Webb. He advanced to third on a fly out by Colton Neel and scored on an RBI single up the middle by Trela.
SIU wrestled the lead away in the fourth inning after two hits and a walk. The big blow came on a two-run double to left field by right fielder Jake Hand.
The Tigers tied it right back up after Trent Turner singled and Webb walked to put two runners on with no outs. Neel sacrifice bunted the runners over and Trela drove in his second run of the game with a sacrifice fly to center field.
Memphis retook the lead in the seventh inning and yet again Trela was involved. The freshman shortstop smashed a double to left field and hustled to third base on an error by the right fielder. Jason Santana drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left field to make the score 3-2.
The pesky Salukis came right back again and tied the game 3-3 off of reliever Blake Bennett. SIU started the inning with a walk, then an errant pickoff throw moved the runner to third and an RBI single brought home the tying run.
Hathcock was called on to get the Tigers out of the jam and needed just two pitches to turn a 1-6-3 double play to end the inning. After a scoreless top of the ninth, he recorded the win.
The teams will play again Saturday at noon and the series finale is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hathcock, Colton (1-0)
L: Williams,Jacob (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Hand,Jake 1
RBI: Smith,Ryan 1 ; Hand,Jake 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Kopach,Connor 1 ; Lambert,Greg 1 ; Hutchins,Nick 1
SB: Smith,Ryan 1
CS: Kopach,Connor 1
Batting:
2B: Webb, Tyler 1 ; Trela, Alec 1
HR: Trela, Alec 1
RBI: Trela, Alec 3 ; Santana, Jason 1
SH: Grudzielanek, Brandon 1 ; Neel, Colton 1
SF: Trela, Alec 1 ; Santana, Jason 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Turner, Trent 1 ; Webb, Tyler 1 ; Trela, Alec 2
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
2
H
3
RBI
3
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
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RHP
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RHP
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