Memphis at Mississippi State Game Notes
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March 26, 2007

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Head Coach Daron Schoenrock will return to familiar confines as the University of Memphis baseball club completes a five-game road swing at Mississippi State with a two-midweek series with the Bulldogs on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Tigers (14-9) have struggled in the last two contests and have dropped three in a row. Game times are set for 6:30 p.m. for both nights.

Memphis comes off of a forgettable Conference USA opening weekend in which its offense was held to just one run over the final 19 innings of the series. Prior to a sixth-inning score in the series finale, the Tigers were held scoreless for 17-straight frames. Memphis was shutout for the second time this year in a 12-0 blanking by the Pirates, and followed that performance by being mercy-ruled on Sunday, 11-1. The two-game total of one run was the lowest offensive run production since Tulane handed Memphis back-to-back shutouts in 1999.

The Tigers offense has been paced all year by senior second baseman Bill Moss. Moss, a CBHS product, has a team-high .365 and also leads the squad with 31 hits and seven home runs. His seven round-trippers, .671 slugging percentage and 57 total bases is tops in C-USA. Moss is tied with Joey Lieberman with 22 RBI and is joined by Michael Murray and K.K. Chalmers for the team lead in doubles. Lieberman is the only other hitter on the club with an average above .300. Memphis is last in the league with a .257 team average.

On the hill Memphis has a 4.52 ERA and had been effective, holding opposing hitters to a .257 clip. Dusty Davis leads the staff with a 3.92 ERA and three wins. Matt Yokley, who was the tough-luck loser in Friday's contest also has three wins to go with a 2.41 ERA. Tuesday's starter, Lance Scoggins, is 0-1 on the year with a 4.82 ERA. The senior southpaw has seen action in four games, with three starts. He has struggled with control this year, walking 12 hitters with only two strikeouts. Opposing hitters bat just .226 against him.

Mississippi State comes into the midweek slate with a 14-6 mark after dropping two-of-three to No. 2 South Carolina over the weekend. The Gamecocks hung 20 runs on the Bulldogs in the series opener, but State retaliated with a 6-5 win in 12 innings on Saturday.

MSU started the started the year off 5-0, before dropping its first contest to a talented Michigan squad. The Bulldogs then ran off wins in five of the next six outings, including winning the opening weekend of SEC play at Florida.

Offense has been the key to success for MSU this year. The team is hitting a blistering .358 and averages 8.5 runs per contest. The Bulldogs have scored 10 or more runs in nine games and have won all nine. The bats are led by Ed Easley, Jeffrey Rea and Russ Sneed, who all hit .400 or better. Easley, an Olive Branch native, is rated as one of the nation's top catchers and hits .427 with a team-best 27 RBI, .744 slugging percentage, and seven home runs. Rea and Sneed both bat .400. Six Bulldog hitters have started in all 20 games and hit .350 or better. Covington High School standout Mark Goforth has started in 18 games and hits .348 with a team-high eight stolen bases.

Bulldogs' pitching has a 5.74 ERA to go with a .311 opponent's batting average. Freshman lefty Tyler Whitney will toe the rubber in the series opener on Tuesday night. Whitney, who hails from Lakeland, Tenn., is 1-1 with a 7.43 ERA in three starts. Opponents hit .322 against him.

Mississippi State holds a 42-20 advantage over Memphis in the all-time series. The 42 losses to State are the third-most suffered by the Tigers to any opponent. Memphis has lost five consecutive games to MSU, including a pair of dramatic wins last year. State first baseman Brad Jones capped a four-run ninth inning with his second home run of the game as the 15th-ranked Bulldogs outlasted Memphis, 12-8 at Nat Buring Stadium. The following night, MSU broke a 2-2 tie with two runs in the seventh for a 5-3 win at AutoZone Park. The last time Memphis defeated Mississippi State was in 2003, when the Tigers got a 10th-inning walk-off blast by Ryan Martin to oust the ninth-ranked Bulldogs.