March 31, 2001

Box Score

TAMPA - The University of Memphis Tiger baseball team (14-11, 2-6) dropped the second game of their three-game set against the Bulls of South Florida (15-15, 6-2) on Saturday afternoon, 10-7. The Tigers were down the majority of the contest and entered the top of the ninth down seven but rallied for four runs off the hot bat of Jay Fik (CBHS) who slammed a grand slam which closed the gap but unfortunately for the U of M, it wasn't enough.

The game was actually suspended until later that evening after a severe weather disrupted play in the bottom of the second.

Fik finished 2-of-4 from the plate with a double, grand slam, one run scored and four RBI.

Daniel Uggla stroked his league-leading 17th double into the gap in left-center which scored Paul Reuer from second and gave Memphis an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first. South Florida answered with a run in the bottom half off an infield single by Daniel Boyd which tied the game at one. The bottom of the second inning fell victim to a series of scattered thunderstorms but also resulted in five runs for USF off four hits and two Tiger errors. The last four runs however, came after play was suspended due to inclement weather. Prior to the delay, Chris Cuccia teed-off with solo shot just below the scoreboard in right which gave the Bulls a 2-1 advantage entering the rain delay.

After being delayed for over an hour-and-a-half, the game was suspended by the home plate umpire before getting re-started at 6:45 EST whereupon South Florida wasted little time before jumping ahead 6-1, after two eventful innings of play. The score remained 6-1 until the fifth inning when both squads came up with a run each and the score was then 7-2. The Bulls added two more in the sixth after Ben Dowdy who singled eventually scored as did Mike Macaluso who drew a one out walk and also scored to make it 9-2, South Florida. Memphis scored In the top of the seventh when Tyler Shelton connected with a one-out single which drove in Barrett Smith and made it 9-3. USF kept the scoring alive and managed another run which increased their lead by one, 10-3. The Tigers were down entering the top of the ninth in a do-or-die situation and refused to go quietly as Fik slammed a grand slam over the wall in centerfield, to narrow the gap 10-7. Memphis had previously loaded the bases when Gabe Interiano and Uggla drew walks and Smith was hit-by-a-pitch. The next two batters were retired however and Memphis dropped their sixth conference game of the season.

Matt Krabbe (1-3) got the loss for Memphis and gave up six earned off nine hits while fanning three, in five innings of work.

Jeremy Fortner (2-1) got the win and gave up one earned off four hits, in three-and-two-thirds of an innings of work. David Richtburg got his second save of the year and gave up only one earned run in an innings worth of work.

These two teams will tangle again tomorrow at 12 p.m. CST at Red McEwen Field. Memphis will be looking to get it's 15th win of the season which would match their regular season total for the 2000 season.