April 28, 2006

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis baseball team will makeup its two canceled games against Ohio this weekend when it hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Mississippi Valley State in a pair of weekend contests.

On Sat., April 29, the Tigers will face UAPB in the twinbill of a doubleheader. The Golden Lions and the Delta Devils will play the early game at 1p.m., before Memphis and UAPB square off at 5 p.m. The U of M and MVSU play on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The weekend's slate of games will replace the originally scheduled season-opening weekend versus Ohio that was canceled due to snow and ice in the Memphis area.

The Tigers enter the weekend on a season-long eight-game losing streak. However, those losses have come to strong competition in No. 2 Rice, No. 15 Mississippi State and #19 Houston. Last weekend's series loss at Houston set the Tigers back from third to seventh in the Conference USA standings.

The Tiger offense continues to put up impressive numbers, hitting .302 as a team. Adam Amar leads the charge and is currently 39th in the country with a .403 batting average. Memphis leads the league and ranks 26th nationally with 86 doubles. Bill Moss (18) and Will Petersen (16) rank fourth and 30th, respectively in doubles. Sophomore K.K. Chalmers, who has 28 stolen bases, leads the league and is 16th in the nation in stolen bases. He is seventh on Memphis' single-season list.

UAPB enters the weekend slate with a 15-29 mark. The Golden Lions have dropped 12-straight contests. In those 12 losses, UAPB has been outscored 123-36. They are averaging three runs per game in the stretch and have been held to two runs or less six times, including a pair of shutouts.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff most recently played in a four-game midweek set with Oklahoma State. The Cowboys swept the Golden Lions in a pair of doubleheader on Tuesday and Wednesday. OSU outscored UAPB 54-9 in the series, including a 17-0 rout in the series opener.

Memphis and Arkansas-Pine Bluff have only met on the baseball diamond four other times prior to this weekend. Memphis has won all four contests. The series dates back to the 1998 season when Memphis shutout Pine Bluff, 12-0 in the first meeting between the two schools. The Tigers won the second game of the series 4-3. The Tigers raced to a 15-0 and a 12-3 win in the 1999 series. Memphis has outscored the Golden Lions 43-6 in the four-game series, with two shutouts.

Mississippi Valley State is currently 23-23 on the year, but is second in the SWAC East division with an 18-6 mark. The Delta Devils got off to slow start, losing the first seven games of the season and battling to a 10-19 record midway through the season. Since the 10-19 mark, MVSU has won 13 of its last 17 contests to even the slate at 23-23.

The Delta Devils are hitting .269 as a team, but ranks second in the nation with 180 stolen bases. Zach Penprase leads the team and ranks No. 1 in the nation with 54 stolen bases in 59 attempts. He is also 12th nationally with seven triples.

Memphis and Mississippi Valley State have never met on the baseball diamond.