March 14, 2007
Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -
Illinois State 15, Memphis 13
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Illinois State (7-7) 003 213 132 - 15 19 3
Memphis (9-6) 101 034 103 - 13 9 5
Junior K.K. Chalmers stole second base in the fifth inning to become Memphis' all-time stolen base record leader, and Bill Moss tied a program-record with nine RBI, but a ninth-inning rally fell short as the Tigers lost a 15-13 slugfest to Illinois State Wednesday at Nat Buring Stadium.
ISU's potent offense baffled Memphis pitchers all night, pounding out 19 hits and scoring runs in each of the final seven innings of play. The visitors scored three runs in the third, sixth and eighth innings. They never trailed after posting three runs in the third.
The Tigers made a late rally in the ninth, when Chalmers doubled and Will Petersen was hit by a pitch with two outs. Moss then drove in three of his nine runs with the second of his two home runs--a towering drive over the leftfield wall that cut the deficit to 15-13. Moss' homer tied him with Bill Dowdle, Collins Day and Dan Uggla for the most RBI in a single game. Dowdle set the mark in 1964 and Uggla was the last to accomplish the feat, driving in nine in 2001.
Memphis got on the board first, with a run in the home half of the opening frame, on an RBI-single from
Adam Amar. That would prove to be the last lead of the day for Memphis, as ISU used two U of M errors to score three runs in the third for a 3-1 lead.
The Redbirds' offense poured the hits on with a two-run blast by Ryan Anetsberger in the fourth, followed by a fifth-inning RBI-single by Kyle O'Brien that put them ahead 6-2.
A drive over the centerfield wall by Moss highlighted a three-run fifth and made it a one-run game at 6-5. Chalmers got things going with a walk and then made Memphis baseball history with his 67th career stolen base. Chalmers surpasses Tim Dulin, who was a two-time All-American at Memphis from 1982-85. Dulin held the previous record with 66 stolen bases.
However, Illinois State recaptured its four-run cushion with three runs of its own in the sixth. The Redbirds benefited from the Tigers' fourth fielding miscue, and added three hits in the inning.
Trailing 9-5 in the bottom of the sixth, Memphis got a leadoff walk by Ben Grisham to start its biggest inning of the game. A balk moved Grisham to second and he came around to score on a throwing error by ISU. A pair of free passes to Chalmers and Petersen loaded the bases for Moss, who brought home his fifth run of the contest with a sacrifice fly to leftfield. Amar walked to load the bases for the second time in the inning and Joey Lieberman singled through the left side to knot the game at 9-9.
Moss again tied the game, with his sixth RBI in his next at-bat. The senior was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to tie the contest at 10-10 in the seventh inning.
ISU responded by scoring the next five runs in the eighth and ninth innings for a 15-10 advantage. A three-run line drive over the right centerfield wall by Kyle O'Brien fueled the three-run eighth. Back-to-back doubles by Jesse Griswold and Kevin Konsler brought home a pair of insurance run in the ninth.
O'Brien finished the night 3-for-6 with five RBI. He came on in the eighth to earn the save. Matt Bolt had a game-best four hits and scored three runs. Griswold was perfect in three at-bats, with four runs and two RBI. Four other Redbird hitters posted multiple hits.
Jake Wielebnicki picked up the win after tossing just one inning of relief. Matt Yokley was tagged with his first loss of the year. He was touched up for four runs and fanned four in 2.1 innings.
The Tigers will continue the seven-game homestand on Friday, when they open a three-game weekend set versus Akron. First pitch on Friday is slated for 6:30 p.m.
