March 17, 2007

Box Score

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -

Memphis 5, Akron 4
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Akron (9-3)   	020 011 000 - 4 9 3
Memphis (11-6)	020 000 021 - 5 6 2

Will Petersen's bases loaded, walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth scored Tyler Huelsing to give Memphis a 5-4 win over Akron, Saturday afternoon. The win was the Tigers' eighth comeback victory of the year and clinched Memphis' first series win of the 2007 season. Akron falls to 9-3 with all three if its losses coming against Memphis.

Memphis took advantage of two costly Akron errors to score three runs, including the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth, in the final two frames. Trailing 4-2 in the eighth, the Tigers kept the inning alive with a two-out hit from Bill Moss. Adam Amar then shot a line drive down the leftfield line to bring Moss home, all the way from first, and cut the deficit to just one run. After Joey Lieberman walked, Akron committed its first critical miscue. Kyle Norrid grounded to third, but an errant throw for the force-out at second sent the ball into rightfield, allowing Amar to score and tie the ballgame at 4-4.

The most significant error came in the home half of the ninth after pinch hitter Steven Watson led the inning off with a walk. Tiger catcher Alex Fennell then grounded a sacrifice bunt back to Akron reliever Patrick Gliha. Gliha opted to get the force at second, but his throw sailed wide and into centerfield, allowing the oinch-runner Huelsing to advance to third. The Zips intentionally walked K.K. Chalmers, and Petersen came through with the game-winning single up the middle. Petersen's hit marked the eighth time in 11 wins that Memphis has won a contest in its final at-bat.

Akron jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second on a two-run single from Kyle Hallett. But Memphis answered with two runs of its own. After Michael Murray doubled and Josh Irvin drew a two-out walk, Fennell lined a two-run double into the right centerfield gap. Murray led Memphis with two hits, while Fennell had a team-high two RBI.

The Zips took advantage of back-to-back errors by the Memphis infield to take a 3-2 lead in the fifth. A sac fly by Phil Bednar pushed the Akron lead to 4-2.

Dusty Davis earned his third win of the year after giving up just two hits and holding Akron scoreless in the final 3.1 innings of play. The senior came on in relief of Ben Grisham, who was solid in his first start of the year. Grisham sprinkled seven hits over 5.2 innings. He struck out four.

Akron starter Frank Turocy held Memphis to five hits and three runs in 7.2 innings, but was relieved by Jared Patterson after Amar's RBI-double in the eighth. Patterson allowed just one unearned run in 0.1 innings in the losing effort. Gliha gave up the final hit of the game.

Memphis looks to claim its first series sweep of the year on Sunday when the two teams meet in the series finale at Noon.