Final American Road Weekend at East Carolina

Friday, May 12

Greenville, NC

5:30 PM

University of Memphis

East Carolina

Photo by: Joe Murphy

May 11, 2017 | Baseball

Game Notes vs. ECU

Tigers and Pirates fighting to stay out of the bottom of the league standings

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Memphis hits the road for the final time in the regular season for a trip to Greenville, N.C. to play a three-game series with East Carolina. The Tigers (26-23, 6-12 AAC) will hope that Tuesday's walk-off win over UT Martin provides momentum for the final seven-game stretch.

ECU (25-24, 4-14 AAC) has had plenty of ups and downs this season, starting as a preseason top-10 team in the national rankings but struggling as of late. The Pirates have been swept in four conference series but have picked up league series wins over Cincinnati and Tulane.

SERIES INFORMATION:
Memphis (26-23, 6-12 AAC) at East Carolina (25-24, 4-14 AAC)
Date: May 12-14, 2017
Location: Greenville, N.C.
Venue: Clark-LeClair Stadium
Twitter Updates: @MemphisBaseball

Friday, May 12| 5:30 p.m. (CT)
Audio: WUMR 91.7 FM
Video: Pirates All-Access
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
MEM: Jr. LHP Drew Crosby (5-2, 4.18 ERA)
ECU: Sr. LHP Evan Kruczynski (2-2, 5.03 ERA)

Saturday, May 13 | 3:00 p.m. (CT)
Audio: WUMR 91.7 FM
Video: Pirates All-Access
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
MEM: Jr. RHP Colton Hathcock (2-3, 3.09 ERA)
ECU: Fr. RHP Trey Benton (3-3, 3.90 ERA)

Sunday, May 14 | 11:00 a.m. (CT)
Audio: WUMR 91.7 FM
Video: Pirates All-Access
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
MEM: So. RHP Jonathan Bowlan (4-5, 4.22 ERA)
ECU: Fr. LHP Jake Agnos (2-3, 3.33 ERA)

Leading Off
• Memphis will travel to East Carolina for the final regular-season road games of the season. The Tigers and Pirates are both fighting to get out of the bottom of the league standings.
• The Tigers last trip to Clark-LeClair Stadium in 2015 marked the program's first series win over East Carolina in Greenville, N.C. It was also the first three-game series win over ECU since 2006. Memphis went 2-2 against ECU last season, eliminating them from the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
• Memphis played a grueling four-week stretch in April in which the Tigers won just four games in a 16-game stretch. Of those 16 games to end the month of April, 14 were against top-50 RPI teams. The Tigers have played a total of 23 games against RPI top-50 teams this year, the second-most in The American.
• Memphis right-handed pitcher Colton Hathock was named to the Midseason Watch List for the 13th annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award. Hathcock picked up his 11th save of the season in the win at Arkansas State, which ranks in the top-20 nationally. The 11 saves are the third most by a Tigers pitcher in a single season in school history. The single-season program record for saves is 14, set by Nolan Blackwood in 2015.
• Freshman shortstop Alec Trela has started all 49 games this season and is on pace to be the first Tigers first-year player to start every game since Jacob Wilson in 2009. Wilson went on to play in 222 career games and stands in the top-5 in nearly every Memphis offensive category. Trela is batting .274 and leads the team with 52 hits and 14 doubles. His 23 extra-base hits are tied for the most on the team.
• Senior Chris Carrier has been scorching hot at the plate recently and has upped his season batting average to a team-high .307. His 11 home runs, seven of which have come in league play, lead the team. He currently has an 11-game hitting streak and is hitting .405 in that stretch with three doubles, five homers, 13 RBI and 10 runs scored.
• The series win at Cincinnati six weeks ago was the first for Memphis over the Bearcats since 2004 and the first for head coach Daron Schoenrock. The Bearcats won the series over Schoenrock's Tigers in 2005 before joining the Big East Conference. The teams reunited in the American Athletic Conference in 2014. The Tigers and Bearcats played two series in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
• The Tigers won their 20th game on April 5 against Alcorn State, marking significant improvement from last season. Memphis ended the 2016 regular season with 19 wins and picked up the 20th on May 26 in the American Athletic Conference tournament. However, since recording the 20th win of the season the Tigers have gone just 6-14 with 14-of-20 games against ranked opposition.