Memphis Wins Series Opener 9-5 Over Southern

Friday, March 24

Memphis, Tenn.

6:30 PM

University of Memphis

14-7

Southern

4-13

Southern

Memphis

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Mar 24, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score

Tigers blast two home runs to pick up the win

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Memphis put together a pair of three-run innings on the way to a 9-5 win over Southern in the series opener Friday at FedExPark. The Tigers (14-7) will go for the series win Saturday at 2 p.m.

Alex Hicks pitched five innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out six batters to earn his third win of the season. Freshman Danny Denz tossed 2 2/3 innings of relief and allowed just one run on four hits. Fellow freshman Takoda Metoxen finished off the final 1 1/3 innings without allowing a base runner.

Memphis got out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly by Alec Trela. The inning could have been bigger after getting two runners in scoring position with one out.

Southern came back to grab the lead in the third inning. Hicks walked two batters and hit one batter as part of a three-run inning for the Jaguars. A two-run single up the middle provided the big blow in the inning.

Brandon Grudzielanek put Memphis right back in front with a three-run homer to left field. The homer, which was Grudzielanek's third this season, drove in Bowman and Turner

Southern knotted the game back up after lead-off walk came around to score in the top of the fifth. That was the closest the Jaguars would be for the rest of the game though.

Trent Turner gave the Tigers the lead right back with a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the fifth inning. The homer was Turner's third of the season.

The Tigers extended that lead to 8-4 with a three-run sixth inning. Schritenthal was hit by a pitch and Webb doubled to put two in scoring position with one out. Bowman singled to right field to drive in the runs. Turner singled to drive in Bowman and make the score 8-4.

Memphis tacked on another insurance run in the seventh to extend the lead to 9-4. Webb drove in Colton Neel with a sacrifice fly.

Denz came out of the bullpen to pitch the sixth inning and worked a scoreless frame around a single. He put up another zero in the seventh before getting into some trouble in the eighth. He was able to limit the damage though and allowed just one run.

Metoxen finished off the eighth inning and pitched a perfect top of the ninth finish the game.