University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
15-14
Southern
17-14
Tigers use doubleheader sweep to claim weekend series
Apr 06, 2019 | Baseball
Memphis (16-14) found a walk-off, extra-inning win in the day's first game, as the Tigers outlasted Southern (17-15) in a 14-12 slugfest. The 14 runs marked a season-high for Memphis. In Game 2, the Tigers used a balanced attacked of pitching and offense to claim an abbreviated 10-1 win.
In the first game, Hunter Goodman played heroics on a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the 12th inning. After 24 combined runs through seven innings, the offense became sparse throughout the final five frames. Colton Neel led off the 12th with a walk. After a sacrifice bunt moved him into scoring position, Goodman drove a 1-1 count over the left field wall for the win.
The 2-run blast was Goodman's second home run of the game. The rookie finished the contest 2-for-6 with two homers and five RBI. Cale Hennemann (3-for-6, 2 RBI), Payton Marshall (2-for-4) and Colton Neel (2-for-4) also posted multiple hit games. All nine starters for Memphis collected at least one hit and tallied at least one RBI.
Freshman Bailey Wimberley earned his second win in a week on the mound.
The home side began the offensive barrage when Alec Trela and Marshall tallied RBI singles. After Southern tied the game in the top of the second, Memphis opened an 8-2 lead in the third, highlighted by home runs from Goodman and Keith Stepter.
With Memphis leading 9-4, Southern rallied for five runs in the top of the fifth and then grabbed a 10-9 lead in the sixth. The Tigers regained a lead in the home half of the sixth inning when Hennemann and Ben Brooks collectively drove in a trio of runs.
The Jaguars offered another rally with two runs in the seventh to knot the game at 12-12 before Memphis posted its first walk-off win of the season.
In game two, Memphis used a pair of five-run innings in the fourth and eighth to surge to a 10-1 win and secure the weekend series. The game was halted with the Tigers batting in the bottom of the eighth inning due to inclement weather.
Chris Durham turned in a stellar performance on the mound. The junior threw 6.2 innings, surrendering just one run and tying a career high of nine strikeouts.
Despite an early one-run deficit, Memphis plated five runs in the fourth inning to take control. Goodman added his sixth RBI of the day on a single to plate the Tigers' first run, and Kyle Ouellette followed with a 2-RBI single. An error and a wild pitch later in the frame pushed the Tigers' lead to 5-1.
Durham, who gave up three of his seven hits allowed in the opening frame, found his groove on the mound. The Collierville, Tenn., native retired 17 of the next 20 batters, induced a double play and registered seven strikeouts over the remainder of the outing.
Memphis picked up its offensive attack in the eighth when Goodman and Marshall posted RBI hits. With two aboard, Stepter then added his second home run of the day for a 10-1 lead before the game was called final.
With no midweek game on deck next week, the Tigers will return to league play next weekend at UConn. First pitch against the Huskies on Friday is slated for 2 p.m. (CT).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Wimberley, Bailey (2-0)
L: Christian Dixon (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Ashanti Wheatley 1
HR: Javeyan Williams 1
RBI: Coby Taylor 2 ; Malik Blaise 1 ; Ashanti Wheatley 1 ; Javeyan Williams 5
SH: Bobby Johnson 1
SF: Javeyan Williams 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tyler LaPorte 1 ; Johnny Johnson 3 ; Hunter David 2 ; Malik Blaise 2 ; Ashanti Wheatley 1 ; Zavier Moore 1 ; Javeyan Williams 2
SB: Tyler LaPorte 1 ; Johnny Johnson 2 ; Ashanti Wheatley 1 ; Javeyan Williams 1
CS: Malik Blaise 1
HBP: Hunter David 1 ; Zavier Moore 1 ; Javeyan Williams 1
Batting:
2B: Neel, Colton 1
HR: Goodman, Hunter 2 ; Stepter, Keith 1
RBI: Brooks, Ben 1 ; Neel, Colton 1 ; Trela, Alec 1 ; Goodman, Hunter 5 ; Marshall, Payton 1 ; Ouellette, Kyle 1 ; Vaage, Nick 1 ; Stepter, Keith 1 ; Hennemann, Cale 2
SH: Brooks, Ben 1 ; Trela, Alec 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brooks, Ben 1 ; Neel, Colton 3 ; Trela, Alec 2 ; Goodman, Hunter 2 ; Marshall, Payton 2 ; Vaage, Nick 1 ; Stepter, Keith 1 ; Hennemann, Cale 2
SB: Neel, Colton 1 ; Marshall, Payton 1 ; Vaage, Nick 1
