May 10, 2002

Box Score

SAINT LOUIS, Mo. - Memphis baseball dropped a critical Conference USA game to Saint Louis, 4-2 Friday night at the Billiken Sports Complex in Saint Louis, Mo.

Senior pitcher Ryan O'Malley scattered eight hits and allowed four runs over 8.0 innings in a complete game loss. The left hander's gritty performance comes as the Tigers' first complete game of any kind this season.

Down 1-0 in the top of the fifth, senior catcher Barrett Smith tied the score with a solo home run to right center. The White Station High graduate is on a tear of late, going 4-for-6 with three home runs and six RBI in his last two games.

The Billikens used two looping RBI singles to take a 3-1 advantage in the bottom of the seventh and a solo home run in the eighth inning to push the score to 4-1.

Memphis pullled to 4-2 on a one-out triple by junior right fielder Paul Cookman that scored freshman centerfielder Jordan Hart. Freshman second baseman Chris Godwin followed with a walk, but the Tigers grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.

The Tigers, who hit into a season-high five double plays, have dropped eight-consecutive Conference USA games and have dropped 12 of their last 13 in conference play. The loss leaves the Tigers in eleventh place, two-and-a-half games out of a Conference USA Championship Tournament berth.

Memphis is back in action tomorrow for a C-USA doubleheader against Saint Louis at the Billikens Sports Complex, beginning at 1 p.m. Game three, originally scheduled for Sunday afternoon, has been moved-up to Saturdat in anticipation of thunderstorms on Sunday.