Tigers split twin bill with Middle Tennessee State

Saturday, March 20

Memphis, Tenn.

1 p.m.

University of Memphis

8-7

Middle Tennessee

10-7

Middle Tennessee St.

Memphis

Photo by: Matthew A. Smith

Mar 20, 2021 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – For the second consecutive day, the Memphis Tigers picked up a 1-0 shutout victory over the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders. The Tigers (8-8) earned a split in Saturday's doubleheader with the shutout win after they fell 8-2 to the Blue Raiders in the first game of the day.

Memphis' dominance in Friday night's series opener didn't carry into the first game on Saturday. After a 1-0 shutout win for Memphis that opened the series, the Blue Raiders (11-7) got on the board in the first frame against Jackson Cothren (L, 1-2). JT Mabry drew a one-out walk while Cole Escher followed with a single. After a failed pickoff attempt put runners at second and third with one out, DJ Wright gave the Blue Raiders the 1-0 lead with an RBI groundout.

Cothren ran into trouble in the third, as eight Blue Raiders came to the plate. Fausto Lopez led off the inning with a home run, while Mabry and Escher followed with hits. Jake Hagenow's sacrifice fly made it 3-0, while Bryce Symlar followed with an RBI single that gave the Blue Raiders a 4-0 lead. Brett Coker then connected with a home run, Middle Tennessee State's long ball of the inning, which made it 6-0. Cothren allowed six runs, but only two earned, as the Tigers committed a pair of early errors.

After the Blue Raiders pushed the lead to 8-0 with two runs in the fourth against Reed Harding, Memphis managed to crack the scoreboard against Peyton Wigginton (W, 2-1) in the bottom of the fourth. Alec Trela drew a two-out walk, while Taylor Howell followed with a two-run home run. The next two Memphis batters reached base, but Wigginton escaped without any further damage. The Blue Raiders led 8-2 after four innings, the eventual final.

The back half of the doubleheader went nearly to the script of Friday night's victory for the Tigers. A dominant starting pitching performance from Chris Durham (W, 1-1) paired with a solo home run from Hunter Goodman earned the Tigers the doubleheader split. Durham allowed five hits and struck out six over 6.1 innings, while Goodman's first inning home run off of Zach Keenan (L, 2-1) ended up as the decisive swing.

Keenan faced just three over the minimum in the complete game loss, while Bailey Wimberley (SV, 3) entered for Durham and the Tigers with two on and one out in the seventh. Wimberley caught both Josh Baker and Brian Dillingham looking, as he secured Memphis' 1-0 win.

The Tigers and Blue Raiders will wrap up their four-game series on Sunday with first pitch at 12 p.m. at FedExPark. Memphis will follow with a Tuesday/Wednesday series at No. 1 Arkansas.