March 9, 2009

South Alabama Game Notes

MOBILE, Ala. - The University of Memphis baseball team will put its three-game win streak on the line in a midweek series at South Alabama, March 10-11. Both games are scheduled for 6 p.m. at Stanky Field.

Projected Pitching Matchups
Tuesday, March 10, 2009 • 6 p.m.
Memphis - Ryan Holland (So., lhp, 0-0, 10.50 ERA)
South Alabama - Miles Ethridge (Sr., rhp, 0-1, 5.59 ERA)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 • 6 p.m.
Memphis - Ben Paullus (Fr., rhp, 0-1, 10.29 ERA)
South Alabama - Chris LeGrow (Jr., lhp, 0-0, 27.00 ERA)

Scouting the Tigers
Coming off a three-game sweep of Valparaiso over the weekend, Memphis enters midweek action a game over .500 at 6-5. The Tiger offense came alive over the weekend, hitting .348 and outscoring Valpo 18-7. Memphis is looking for its first midweek win after losing each of its first three contests by a combined score of 50-11.

The Tigers are led, offensively, by Trey Wiedman. Wiedman has hit safely in each of the last five games and leads the team with a .359 batting average. Wiedman is joined by freshman Drew Martinez atop the team's hit list with 14 base knocks. He is also tied for the team lead (with Cole Shelton) with six RBI. Senior shortstop Brett Bowen had a productive week last week to increase his batting average 173 points to .273. Bowen leads the team with a .485 slugging percentage, nine runs scored and nine walks. He has posted multiple hits in three of the last four games.

On the mound, Memphis has a 7.48 staff ERA, with 92 strikeouts. Junior Brennon Martin continues to lead the group with a 2-0 record and a 1.66 ERA in three starts. Martin has walked just two batters, compared to his team-best 14 strikeouts in 21.2 innings pitched. Reliever Heith Hatfield is perfect in three save opportunities and has yet to give up an earned run. He holds opponents to a .056 batting average. Senior Duke Williams is 1-0 with a 4.70 ERA. Williams is coming off a five strikeout performance in which he picked up his first win as a Tiger on Sunday. Tuesday's starter Ryan Holland has no record, but has a 10.50 ERA in two appearances. He has seven strikeouts in six innings. Wednesday starter Ben Paullus enters his second start with an 0-1 mark and a 10.29 ERA. The righthander earned his first career start last week at Middle Tennessee and took the loss after giving up seven runs on 10 hits in five innings. He did fan five in the outing.

Scouting South Alabama
The Jaguars are 5-7 after dropping games to UC-Irvine, UAB and Baylor in weekend action. USA hits .273 as a team with eight home runs. Catcher David Doss provides the Jags with power production at the plate. The senior hits .283 a leads the club with 24 total bases, 11 RBI, three round-trippers and three doubles. Junior centerfielder Clint Reynolds checks in with a team-high .385 average. He leads the way with a .605 slugging clip, while senior first baseman Ryan Bohanan's 16 hits is a team-high. Bohanan hits a stout .340.

The USA pitching staff yields a 5.52 ERA with 83 strikeouts on the year. Brandon Sage, Lance Baxter and Matt Jackson lead the team from the mound. All three have worked at least 19 innings and logged three starts. Sage, who has 15 strikeouts, leads the staff with a 1.86 ERA. Baxter has a 2.33 ERA, while Jackson is 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA. He leads the crew with 20 strikeouts and an opponent's batting average of .179. Tuesday starter, Miles Ethridge, is 0-1 with a 5.59 ERA in two starts. Opponents hit .325 against him. Junior lefthander Chris LeGrow is schedule for the start on Wednesday. LeGrow has a 27.00 ERA in 1.1 innings of work. He has given up four runs on five hits and walked two in two outings.

The All-Time Series vs. South Alabama
South Alabama leads the series 11-10. The two schools have not met on the diamond since the 1995 season (14 years ago). The series started in 1977 when USA swept Memphis in a three-game series to start the season. The Jags defeated the Tigers four times in 1977 and won each of the first five meetings. Memphis has won seven of the last 10 times the two have met, including claiming three-straight in Mobile. The Tigers are 5-8 all-time at Stanky Field.