Hunter Smith Pitches Gem to Lead Tigers to Victory

Sunday, May 6

Memphis, Tenn.

1 p.m.

University of Memphis

16-32, 3-15

UConn

27-14, 11-7

UConn

Memphis

Photo by: Joe Murphy

May 06, 2018 | Baseball

Box Score

Alec Trela drove in the winning runs with a three-run homer in the fifth

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Hunter Smith pitched a career-high 8 1/3 innings and Alec Trela hit a three-run home run in the fifth to lead Memphis to a 4-3 win over No. 19 UConn in the series finale Sunday at FedExPark.

Smith, making his second start of the season, started the ninth inning with just one run allowed on three hits. The Huskies scored two runs in the ninth inning to trim the Tigers lead to 4-3. Smith finished with seven strikeouts to match his career high, set last week at USF.

Riley Cabral came out of the bullpen in the ninth to get the final two outs and record his first save at Memphis. He struck out the final batter of the game to secure the win.

Memphis grabbed its first lead of the weekend in the bottom of the third inning. Keith Stepter singled to start the inning and was sacrificed to second base. He moved to third base on a wild pitch and scored when Carlos Williams hit an RBI single to left field.

UConn came right back to tie the game 1-1 though in the top of the fourth inning. The Huskies loaded the bases with one out and a hit batter knotted the game up. Smith was able to get out of the jam without any more runs coming across.

Trela blasted Memphis back into the lead with a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning. All of the damage came with two outs, as Ben Brooks doubled and Williams walked to put two runners on ahead of Trela.

The blast was Trela's team-leading seventh of the season and upped his RBI total to a team-high 36.

Trela finished 1-for-4 with three RBI, while Williams was 1-for-2 with on run driven in.

Memphis will be back in action against Belmont on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at FedExPark. The game will be the final $1 Hot Dog Night of the season.