Brock Busick/University of Memphis Athletics Memphis Tiger Pierre Seals scores Tuesday against Mississippi State on an RBI ground out by Jake Curtis.
The Memphis Tigers baseball team lost against No.21 Mississippi State Tuesday at Dudy Noble Field by a score of 17-9. The win puts the Tigers a game under .500 (11-12) and Mississippi State improves to (16-6) on the season.
Cade Davis drew the start and had a solid performance through three innings, allowing three runs on four hits and tailing a strikeout.
“We did a good job coming out early and Cade Davis was pretty good,” Memphis head coach Matt Riser said. “I know he gave up a couple of homers but at the end of the day, I thought he pitched well.”
A double by Jacob Compton to right field led to Riley Davis’ single to third that drove in Compton and allowed Brennan DuBose to score and gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead after an error by the left fielder. That was the first error of the season for Logan Kohler and it came against his former Memphis team.
The Tigers took a 9-3 advantage in the fifth inning after a two-run double by Jacob Compton. Memphis tallied five consecutive hits at the top of the fifth to start the inning and had the Bulldogs on the ropes.
Seven hits in the fifth inning included five singles, one double, and a home run. Seth Cox hit a three-run home run to extend the Tiger’s lead, and then Compton doubled to center which drove in Austin Baskin and Daunte Stuart.
But the Bulldogs responded with seven runs of their own at the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 10-9 lead into the sixth.
Connor Hujsak drew a walk, which scored David Mershon from third with the bases loaded. Mississippi State Amari Larry (0-3) got his first hit of the night to tie the game 9-9. Then Johnny Long scored with the bases loaded as Dakota Jordan got hit.
Memphis struggled to score after the fifth inning. While the Bulldogs added a run in the sixth and four runs in the seventh. Hujsak hit a home run with runners on second and third to put the Bulldogs up 15-9.
After the game, Coach Riser spoke of the team’s defense and miscommunication heading into the conference play.
“These middle innings are killing us, and we have to be better, not only on the mound but also defensively,” said coach Matt Riser. “We have to do a good job of getting some things fixed these next couple of days to get ready for conference play.”
UP NEXT
The Memphis Tigers are back in action Friday against South Florida in Tampa, Florida at Red McEwen Field. This marks the Tigers first conference series of the season. First pitch is set for 5:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
One thing every good team has, no matter what the sport, is the ability to be consistent. This is currently one of the main things the Memphis Tigers are lacking.
The Memphis Tigers once again find themselves at a neutral record after splitting the weekend doubleheader on Saturday against New Orleans. They won that series 2-1, but the last two weeks have been an up and down stretch for the Tigers, where they have only won 4 out of the last ten games.
The Grind City Classic was an especially ugly stretch for the Tigers, as they lost all three of those games. This was after dropping the previous two games to Ole Miss and Wright State University. So, before this week began, the Tigers were on a five-game losing streak and taking a large step back.
James Bristentine/Tigerpen Jake Curtis steps up at bat vs Wright State University during the second game of the series. This was the last game the Tigers won before going on a five game losing streak.
The following week, the Tigers put an end to the losing streak in the game against North Alabama. This win led to them going on a three-game win streak, which was ultimately stopped by New Orleans on Saturday afternoon in the first game of the doubleheader. Memphis lost that game 1-6, then won the next 12-10.
That has been the story for the Tigers. On a good hitting day, they seem like a complete team with few holes. In games they score ten or more points, their record is 7-0. Also, the Tigers average 10.9 runs in their wins. On the other hand, their losses are a completely different story, as so far this season they only average 4.54 runs in their losses. That is a huge drop off, and in three of their 11 losses they have only scored one run.
Pitching has also been a wildly inconsistent. In ten games the pitchers have allowed ten or more hits, and in six of those their opponents have scored ten or more runs. In the games they allow 10+ hits, they are 3-7.
Coach Matt Riser has said on multiple occasions that this team is a player-led team. However, after the weekend skid during the Grind City Classic, he was very transparent with what he wanted out of the players.
“If you’re still in, I expect to see you on Tuesday,” Riser said. “If not no big deal, come see me on Monday and we can set up the transfer portal.”
Robby Byrd/Tigerpen Matt Riser over looks the field while the Memphis Tigers are at bat.
Riser said no one showed up on Monday, and he said the seniors played a big role in the shift in play during the midweek series.
Another thing that Riser said that could be a key weapon for the Tiger’s is the energy from the dugout.
“The human mind is a beautiful thing. It’s probably the most complex machine that there is in the world, no matter what technology we have. And, you know, positive thinking and our positive reinforcement in the dugout with 37 guys in there bonding together. Makes it a huge difference.”
The Tigers are looking to build on their positive performance during Saturday’s second game when they face Mississippi State in Starksville. Following that, they have their weekend series at South Florida University. Memphis is just 3-5 on the road, so this may be a difficult stretch for them up ahead.
Successful week for the AAC as the conference opponents of the Memphis Tigers finished the week with a combined 26-10 record. Especially East Carolina and FAU cemented their ambitions this season after not losing a single game over the last week. But also some of the bottom teams showed impressive performances during the week. Here’s how every team of the AAC did.
East Carolina
Once again, no team was able to stop the Pirates during the last week. East Carolina played four games and won all of them. A close 8-7 victory against UNCW was followed by a 3-0 series win against Columbia. The series was never close as the Pirates started on Friday with a 17-3 blowout win. The clean sweep was completed with an 8-0 and 8-6 win on the following days.
With the four wins during the week, East Carolina continues their reigns at the top of the AAC with a 13-4 record. A record that earns them the no.13 rank in the national standings.
Wichita State
The Shockers of Wichita State University are continuing their great start to the season. A 4-1 record in the last five games and a 12-6 record for the season earns them the number two spot in the conference. Wichita State split the midweek series against Nebraska after losing the first game on Tuesday 6-8. One day later, they were back to their winning ways with a 9-3 win.
The opponent for there weekend series were the Bulldogs from Gonzaga, who proved to be no match for the Shockers: 10-5, 10-6 and 4-3 were the results for Wichita State during the weekend. This series cemented their number two spot in the standings only behind the high-flying Pirates from East Carolina.
Florida Atlantic
FAU added to the successful week for the AAC with a 4-0 record. On Tuesday, they started with a win against their neighbors from Miami. After that they went on to sweep Maine over the weekend. The Owls outscored their helpless opponent 31-6 over the three game series.
With the week in the books, FAU stays in the hunt of Wichita State and East Carolina with an 11-6 record, good enough for the third seed in the AAC.
South Florida
The Bulls from South Florida could not match the success of their state neighbor after splitting the week with a 2-2 record. However, they started promising with a 16-6 win against Maine. Then, on the weekend, the Spartans from UNCG proved to be tough of an opponent with them winning 2-1 against the Bulls.
South Florida will be poised to bounce back in the next week and keep their pursuit of the top three teams in the AAC. Right now, they are sitting only one game behind FAU.
Tulane
Similar success had the University of Tulane this week with another 2-2 record. They started their week with a close 7-8 loss to Southeastern Louisiana. Their weekend series featured the Pepperdine Waves all the way from California. The first two games were successful for Tulane, however, they lost the second game of their double-header on Saturday with 6-4. This earns Tulane a 12-8 record and the fifth seed in the conference.
UAB
The UAB Blazers only played three times this week, but they still made it count. With a 3-0 series win against Lindenwood, they successfully polished their record. Lindenwood proved to be no match for UAB as the combined score was 17-8 for the Blazers. The weekend-sweep improves their record to a positive 10-8, good enough for the sixth seed in the AAC.
Charlotte
Another team splitting the week as the Charlotte 49ers finish with a 2-2 record. They started promising after an 11-8 win against Winthrop and a 21-10 series opener against UNCW. However, UNCW hit back and finished the both remaining games with a combined score of 20-7 to win the series.
Charlotte sits in the seventh seed of the conference while barely keeping a positive record with 10-9.
UTSA
The Roadrunners finished the week with an even 2-2 record. After losing their midweek game to Abilene Christian on Tuesday, they started their weekend series with a 12-2 win against Northwestern. Northwestern came back on the same day and won the second game of the double header 10-4. To close out the week, UTSA won game three 2-0 and clinched the series.
This earns the Roadrunners a record of 10-10 and the spot of the closest pursuer of the Memphis Tigers with their 11-11 record.
Rice
Last but not least, we have the Owls from Rice University. Although, they continue to sit firmly at the bottom spot of the AAC, they recorded a great week after going 3-1. Their only loss came on Monday, when they had to travel all the way to Hawaii only to lose 5-7.
But the weekend series proved to be redemption time as Rice swept the Houston Christians. 10-7, 7-3 and 10-6 read the final scores of the games. With that, the Owls improve to 9-11 and keep a close eye on UTSA and the Tigers, who are only a few games better.
With the Tigers sitting at 11-11, there have been flashes of how good this team can be, especially with swinging the bat. In 22 games, the Tigers’ offense has had five or more runs 16 times. On the flip side, the Tigers’ pitching staff has given up five or more runs 15 times.
There are flashes where the pitching comes out and looks great like in their 16-2 win over North Alabama, or in back-to-back games where they gave up only three runs against UT-Martin and Wright State.
Unfortunately, those outing are few and far between. If not for the Tigers offense, it would be a much different story about this year up to this point.
Looking at the statistics compiled so far this season, the struggles of the pitching staff are laid bare.
Of every pitcher that has appeared in more than one game this season, only three pitchers have an ERA under four. Those three are not even starters. They are bullpen guys: Brayden Sanders, Kylan Stepter, and Jake Curtis.
The bullpen has shown moments of stability like in their loss against Ole Miss where the bullpen went almost eight full innings while giving up only one run.
“The encouraging part from tonight was that out of a bullpen, we pitched very well,” coach Matt Riser said after the March 6 loss.
The starting pitching has seemed like an issue all season. The stats back it up in every way with all but one regular starter, David Warren, having an ERA over six.
With all of those stats, the way to really show the struggles in the pitching staff is seeing where they rank nationally in pitching statistics.
Team ERA is one of the best ways to show how good or bad a team’s pitching has been. For the Tigers, a 6.47 team ERA puts them at 183rd nationally out of 295 Division-I teams.
In walks per nine innings, the Tigers are averaging 5.37, good for 189 overall. In strikeout to walk ratio, the Tigers are only 1.68 strikeouts to every walk, which is 169 overall. Hits allowed per nine innings show the Tigers giving up 10.37 for 200th in the country.
WHIP or walks plus hits per innings pitched is the statistic that most people in baseball use as their barometer to see how good pitching is. It is a statistic that shows how good a pitcher or pitching staff is at keeping opposing teams from getting on base. The Tigers rank 208 in the nation in team WHIP of 1.75.
Obviously, the Tigers are disappointed in being 11-11 at this point, but it could be a lot worse and are still in a place where they can turn the pitching around.
Elisha Segars/Tigerpen Will Marcy looks to get on base for the Tigers during Friday’s game against UNO.
The Tigers used a four-run first inning to take a lead that they would never relinquish, winning 5-4 over the New Orleans Privateers.
“We needed one like that where we just grinded it out,” said coach Matt Riser. “It was a great team effort.”
The first four batters of the game, Jake Curtis, Will Marcy, Austin Baskin and Daunte Stuart all reached base for Memphis before New Orleans could record an out. Stuart drove in Curtis with an RBI single, scoring the first run of the game.
Seth Cox delivered the biggest hit of the night, slapping a bases-clearing double down the left-field line to extend the Tigers’ lead to 4-0.
Starting pitcher David Warren gave the Tigers a quality outing in his fifth appearance of the season. He exited the contest after allowing two runs on four hits in seven innings. Warren would be tagged for two more runs after New Orleans scored a pair of his inherited baserunners on a double in the eighth inning.
After the first inning, Memphis only recorded one more hit the entire game. A sixth-inning single by Daunte Stuart proved to be massive, as he would come around to score on an errant pickoff attempt.
Relief pitcher Brayden Sanders closed the game for the Tigers. In his two-inning performance, he did not allow a run and only gave up one hit. Sanders struck out two New Orleans’ batters in the ninth inning and was awarded with his fourth save of the season.
The win is the third in a row for Memphis and brings them back to .500 on the season, with a record of 10-10. The Tigers and the Privateers will play a doubleheader on Saturday, starting at 2 p.m. due to the threat of inclement weather on Sunday.
The University of Memphis Tigers beat the Arkansas State Red Wolves 13-7 in Jonesboro on Wednesday advancing to a 9-10 record. This is the Tigers second consecutive win following a five-game losing streak they broke Tuesday.
“I thought we did a really good job of putting back-to-back strong midweek games together,” said head coach Matt Riser. “To get back on track and sweep a pair of different midweek opponents was good to see.”
To start the game the Tigers allowed three runs to cross, but would get three quick outs to close the top of the inning. The Tigers would respond with six runs in the bottom of the inning. Of those six runs, four came from long balls. Pierre Seals fired a homer to left field bringing himself, Jacob Compton, and Austin Baskin all the way around diamond. Immediately following, Seth Cox would bring himself home with a single run homer out to left field.
Tigers would only allow one run in the second and would end the top of the inning with a pick off at second base. Then after two early outs Daunte Stuart would hit a home run to bring himself and Baskin home. Cox would later hit a single into left field allowing Compton to score. The Tigers would later close the inning with a 9-4 lead.
Arkansas State came out in the third and scored two runs of their own, but Memphis would match them with a double from Will Marcy that brought home Jake Curtis. Then, Austin Baskin smacked a ball to right field allowing Marcy to run home.
Both Memphis and Arkansas State would go scoreless for the next three innings and the Red Wolves wouldn’t be able to score again until the ninth inning. The Tigers were able to break their scoreless streak in the seventh with two runs from Stuart and Compton.
After a five-game losing streak, the Tigers were finally able to pickup some wins in these midweek games. The Tigers head to New Orleans, Louisiana to play the University of New Orleans in a three game weekend series starting Friday.
The new season does not only bring a new head coach in Matt Riser and new players for the Memphis Tigers. The 2024 season features a completely overhauled American Athletic Conference. Three teams have left the conference and a whopping five new teams have joined. What does that mean for the new season for the Memphis Tigers?
Which teams left the AAC?
In total, three teams have left the AAC for the new season: Central Florida, Houston and Cincinnati. All of them found their new home in the Big 12 conference.
The Houston Cougars had the most success of those three teams, as they finished the last season second in the conference. They won 17 conference games, only one less than the conference champions, East Carolina. In the AAC tournament they went on to eliminate the Memphis Tigers and fell short to the later conference champion, Tulane.
The University of Central Florida finished the regular season as the four seed with a balanced 12-12 record. After that, the Knights went on to beat Cincinnati in the first round of the AAC tournament, but would ultimately lose to their in-state rivals from South Florida.
The Cincinnati Bearcats finished the season as the worst of the three leavers. A 10-14 conference record meant the same number of wins as the Memphis Tigers, earning them the fifth seed. Their tournament ended with a first round loss to UCF.
All of the three leaving teams finished the 2023 season as a higher seed than the Tigers. Houston even ended their AAC tournament hopes, as they beat them in a close 6-5 contest in the second round.
Where are the new teams in the AAC from? A map of the five teams and their location.
Which new teams have joined the AAC?
Austin Baskin, going into his fourth year with the Tigers, commented before the season about the the changes: “They are bringing in a lot of new teams into the conference this year, but, I think, we have got a really good chance to be competitive this year.”
A lot of new teams indeed, as five new teams feature in the new AAC season. All of them are coming from the same conference—Conference USA. Namely, the UAB Blazers from Alabama, the Owls from Florida Atlantic University, the Charlotte 49ers, the Rice University Owls and the UTSA Roadrunners from San Antonio in Texas.
Charlotte was last year’s Conference USA champion, and they will be a featured team in the new AAC season. The 49ers beat Dallas Baptist in the C-USA tournament final to secure their spot in the NCAA tournament.
However, they lost their regional against the University of Tennessee, eliminating them in the first round. Still, the Charlotte 49ers will be poised to repeat their success in the new conference.
Not as successful in the tournament, but better than the 49ers in the regular season last year, were the Roadrunners from San Antonio. UTSA finished the season with a 38-19 record, second only to the conference-winning Dallas Baptist. Their season, however, came to an abrupt end as Charlotte blew them out 11-2 in the first round of the C-USA tournament.
Florida Atlantic finished the season with a positive record of 34-24, good enough for the five seed in the conference. They then went on to beat Rice in the first round, but fell short in the second round to Western Kentucky.
Last, but not least, there are the two teams from Rice University and the University of Alabama, Birmingham. Both had an underwhelming season, finishing as the eighth seed in the case of Rice and tenth and dead last in the case of UAB. Rice went on to exit in the first round of the C-USA tournament, and UAB did not even make a tournament appearance. Both teams will be poised to improve their performance in this season.
Memphis Tigers’ Brennan DuBose said in his press conference before the season that he is looking forward to the new challenges: “The road games are great experiences – getting to see some of the coolest places in college baseball playing at the highest level. We want to play the top teams and we have the ability to compete with everybody”.
What can we expect from the new teams?
With the first games of the new season already in the books, some early trends for the new teams are showing. Florida Atlantic (6-5) and Charlotte (7-6) are keeping their record positive after the first few games.
UTSA’s record hangs in the balance with 6-6 and the two bottom teams from last season are off to bad start once again as they sit at the bottom of the conference: UAB with 5-6 and the Rice Owls with 4-8.
In the coaches poll before the season three of the five new teams were picked to be in the top four of the conference this season. With East Carolina picked to getting their fifth straight regular season title, Charlotte, UTSA and Florida Atlantic were selected as the second, third and fourth seed. Not surprisingly, Rice was picked for the eighth seed, and UAB was once again projected to finish last.
Memphis head coach Matt Riser predicts a rise in the quality of the AAC this season.
“FAU has been in the regional for six of the last nine years, UTSA was in the top 25 for a few weeks last season and Charlotte was in a regional final last year,” he said. “It is a three or a four-bid league when it is all said and done.”
When do the Tigers play their new opponents?
The first series against a new conference opponent for the Memphis Tigers will not be played until the end of March. Beginning on March, 28th the Tigers will host Florida Atlantic University in their first conference matchup in a three-game-series. One week after that, coach Riser’s team will travel to Houston to face the Rice Owls for another three games starting April 5. The next two weekends will also feature new opponents for the Tigers as they host UTSA starting April 12 and travel to Charlotte for the start of the series on April 19.
The projected worst team of the five will also be the last new team Memphis faces: The Tigers will travel to Birmingham, Alabama on May, 10th to start their three-game-series against UAB.
The team, however, does not seem to be phased by the new opponents: Junior Aaron Smigelski said that they are not thinking ahead right now: “For us it is just taking each game at a time. We always try to get the job done in the next game.”
The new AAC season promises to be an interesting one for the Memphis Tigers, with three teams that all finished above them leaving. However, from the five teams joining, three are projected to finish above the Tigers in the new season. The end of March and the month of April will show how well coach Riser’s team will stack up against their new opponents.
The Tigers bounced back after a tough week, defeating the University of North Alabama Lions 16-2 in seven innings. The win snaps a five-game losing streak for Memphis.
“This is the type of game we needed,” said coach Matt Riser. “We did it in multiple ways, and the energy in our dugout was awesome.”
Starting pitcher Cade Davis put together a strong outing, allowing one run via a leadoff home run by North Alabama second baseman Jackson Ferrigno. In five innings of work, Davis recorded seven strikeouts and did not allow a walk. He received his first collegiate win for the effort.
North Alabama cycled through six different pitchers in the contest. All but one allowed multiple runs in their stints.
The Tigers got the bats going early, tallying seven runs in the first three innings. Daunte Stuart and Seth Cox each drove in multiple runs with extra-base hits to give Memphis control of the contest.
Along with the 11 hits totaled by the Memphis offense, the North Alabama pitching staff allowed 14 Tiger batters to reach base via walk or hit-by-pitch.
North Alabama’s defense committed two costly errors, scoring multiple runs for Memphis and putting the game out of reach.
“We did a really good job of putting pressure on their defense,” said Riser. “We did the little things right to create situations for the big hits.”
Jacob Compton and Austin Baskin each drove in multiple runs with hits late in the game to extend the lead to double figures for Memphis.
Jackson Lyons entered in the sixth inning, relieving Cade Davis on the mound for the Tigers. Lyons gave up one run in two innings of work and sealed the seven-inning win for Memphis.
The victory over North Alabama is the second of the mercy rule variety for the Tigers this season and improves their record to 8-10. Memphis will return to action tomorrow against the Arkansas State Red Wolves at FedEx Avron Fogelman Field at 6 p.m.
The Tigers fell short in a back-and-forth affair against Jackson State, losing 6-4 in 10 innings. Memphis finishes the weekend 0-3 and has dropped five consecutive contests.
“At some point we have to pick ourselves up,” said head coach Matt Riser. “The good news is we have games coming up to prove ourselves different, but we have to get collectively back together as a team.”
The Tigers continued their offensive struggles, tallying just four hits in the game. The lone highlight came when Jacob Compton launched a two-run shot over the right field fence. The home run was Compton’s third of the weekend and eighth of the season, leading all hitters in the AAC.
Starting pitcher Caden Robinson put together a solid outing, allowing one earned run on four hits in five innings. Two unearned runs scored in his tenure, both coming from errors by shortstop Jake Curtis.
“I thought Caden pitched his way through some tough situations,” added Riser. “We did not make a lot of plays behind him, but he handled it well and kept us in the game.”
The Memphis bullpen had another strong showing, holding Jackson State to one run in six innings of regulation. Logan Rushing, Kylan Stepter and Brayden Sanders each contributed and kept the game alive for the Tigers.
After Memphis failed to score in the bottom of the ninth inning, Jackson State took the lead on an RBI double by second baseman Myles White and extended it with an RBI single from Robert Tate II.
The Tigers were unable to match Jackson State in the bottom half of the inning, going down in order.
After the defeat, Memphis holds a record of 7-10 on the season. The Tigers return to action on Tuesday, when they face the University of North Alabama Lions at FedEx Park at 6 p.m.
Memphis was defeated in their second game of the inaugural Grind City Classic by the Presbyterian Blue Hose. The 4-1 outcome marks the fourth consecutive loss for the Tigers.
“We are in a serious rut that we have to get out of,” said head coach Matt Riser. “It does not matter what happens, tomorrow is a day where you do not lose.”
Memphis’s offense was held to one run on five hits in the contest. The lone run of the game came via a no-doubt home run by Pierre Seals, his fifth of the season. The Tigers failed to string together hits, as they did not have multiple in any inning throughout the entire game.
Presbyterian starter Charlie McDaniel worked seven innings and gave up one run on three hits. Despite only recording three strikeouts, he coaxed weak contact to retire most of the Memphis hitters he faced.
Tigers starting pitcher Luke Ellis had a rocky outing, giving up four runs on seven hits in three innings. “We need him to take a step forward for us,” said Riser. Ellis received the loss for his effort.
Despite getting off to a rough start, Memphis was able to stay within reach, thanks to an outstanding relief performance from Seth Garner. Garner threw five scoreless innings, giving up no hits and striking out eight Presbyterian batters.
Kylan Stepter took the mound in the ninth and worked a scoreless inning, setting up the Tigers with a potential rally.
Duante Stuart reached base via an infield single, giving the Tigers momentum. However, Presbyterian reliever Kyle Mueller retired Jacob Compton and Pierre Seals, securing the save and the win for the Blue Hose.
With the loss, Memphis falls to 7-9 on the season. The Tigers will play their final game of the Grind City Classic against Jackson State on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Tigerpen 