April 18, 2006

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Tigers to Take on No. 15 Bulldogs The road gets no easier for the University of Memphis baseball team as they prepare to host the 15th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs in a two-game series at Nat Buring and AutoZone Park. Tuesday's series-opener will be held at "The Nat" at 6:30 p.m. The team's will change venues on Wednesday's contests, playing the game at AZP as the nightcap of a doubleheader with the Redbirds, who play the Oklahoma Redhawks at 1:10 p.m. A $15 ticket that gets fans into both games is available. Call the Memphis Redbirds ticket office at (901) 721-6000 for more information,

WKNO/Channel 10 to Televise AutoZone Game Wednesday night's game with MSU will be aired live on WKNO/Channel 10, Public Television for the Mid-South. Coverage begins at 7 p.m., with the first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. at AutoZone Park.

The "Voice of the Tigers" Jeff Brightwell will give the play-by-play, with color commentary provided by former Tiger standout, Jonathan Lyons.

About Mississippi State The Bulldogs come into the midweek series with a 26-9 mark. Mississippi State was ranked as high as fifth last week, but dropped an SEC series to Auburn, 2-1. State got off to the nation's best start, reeling off 18-straight wins to start the season. The feat earned them a No. 1 national ranking. However, since the 18-0 start, MSU is 8-9 and had lost five of its last six.

The Bully offense is hitting .307 with 227 runs batted in and 70 doubles. Thomas Berkery, who had a 30-game hitting streak snapped earlier this year, leads the team with a torrid .411 average. He is tied for the team lead with four home runs, while ranking second with 54 hits. Five other regulars are hitting .300 or higher. Jeffrey Rea is atop that group and ranks second among Bulldog hitters with a .372 batting average. Ed Easley (.340) and Jeff Butts (.319) are tied for the team lead in doubles with 10. Butts' 28 runs driven in and two triples and also a MSU-highs.

Defensively, The Bulldogs are fielding at a .962 clip with 51 errors.

On the mound, Mississippi State's staff has a combined 3.28 ERA and holds opposing teams to just a .255 average against them. Just one pitcher with at least eight appearances has an ERA over 5.00. Freshman Matt Lea, leads the team with five wins in six decisions. Lea is a native of Germantown, Tenn. and is the son of former Tiger standout and Major League Baseball All-Star, Charlie Lea. The freshman has a 2.13 ERA and has fanned 26 in his six starts. Aaron Weatherford (1.27), Jesse Carver (1.29), Brett Cleveland (1.62) and Chad Crosswhite are all under 2.00 ERA's. Weatherford is 4-0 in 11 outings. He averages a strikeout and inning (21k, 21.1 ip). Cleveland has landed the role as closer and has five of the bullpen's eight saves. Brooks Dun leads the staff with 36 nbatters struck out.

The Series Mississippi State leads the all-time series 40-20. State won last year's series in the a cold set that saw a suspended-game on day one, before the teams were able to finish the series the next day. The Bulldogs swept the 2004 series, 10-2 in game one, and 7-2 in six innings in game two. The teams split the season series in two games at AutoZone in 2003. The ninth-ranked Bulldogs defeated the Tigers 12-3 in the opener, before Ryan Martin hit a 10th-inning home run to lift the Tigers to a dramatic 8-7 win in the finale.

About the Tigers Like MSU, Memphis comes in on the heels of a conference series loss. However, the Tigesr fell three times to the No. 2 inthe country, Rice Owls. Despite the three losses, Memphis hitters fared well against the league's top pitching staff. The U of M hit .327 against Rice to improve its season average to .311 and its C-USA average to .334, which ranks first in the C-USA only games. Overall, the Tigers lead Conference USA in stolen bases (62), while ranking second in hits (420) and doubles (84).

Junior Adam Amar continues to shine and leads C-USA with a .397 average. He is second in slugging and on base percentage, and fifth with 39 RBI. Sophomore K.K. Chalmers has swiped a league-high 26 bases, while Will Petersen and Bill Moss pace all C-USA hitters with 16 doubles each. DH Joey Lieberman is fourth with eight round-trippers.

On the bump, 2005 ERA-leader Drew Jaudon is again in form and leads the team with a 3.68 ERA and a 3-1 record. Freshman Matt Yokley has the next lowest ERA at 5.18. Marcus Davis leads the squad with 32 strikeouts. Opponents are hitting .312 against Tiger pitchers.

Last Time Out #2 Rice 19, Memphis 8 Rice designated hitter Adam Zornes slammed a pair of home runs and the second-ranked Owls hitters combined for a season-high six round-trippers to complete the sweep of Memphis, 19-8 in the series finale. Memphis falls to 6-6 in Conference USA play.

Craig Crow was the winner for the Owls, who have won 15-straight. He was tagged for five runs on 11 hits in five innings. Scott McGregor took the loss for Memphis after giving up nine runs on eight hits in 5.1 innings. Bobby Bramhall recorded his second save of the year in four innings of relief work.

On Deck Memphis will make the trip to Houston to take on the league's No. 2 team, the Houston Cougars. Houston is 9-3 in league play and has won all four weekend series'.