Coming off of a huge sweep over South Florida, the Memphis Baseball team (26-23, 8-11 American) found itself on a five-game winning streak. The bats were getting hot, and the Tigers were looking forward to their big game against baseball powerhouse, Mississippi State. However, thunderstorms prevented the tigers from potentially securing the win, in what would be a huge win for the program. After a 3-day layoff, the Tigers found themselves in action on Friday night against #14 East Carolina (36-14, 13-6 American).

Huge First Inning from ECU

East Carolina came out swinging in the first inning, netting 6 runs. Lane Hoover, Jacob Starling, Josh Moylan, Jacob Jenkins-Cowart, and Luke Nowak lead off the bottom of the first by reaching base safely. Memphis P Seth Garner (1-4) threw just 22 pitches and didn’t record a single out, giving up four hits on five earned runs.

“We started off in the hole six runs and had some opportunities where it looked like we were going to battle a little bit, but we just need to be more consistent.” HC Merrick Jackson stated in a post-game interview.

The Tigers’ offense failed to get anything going early in the game against East Carolina starting P Josh Grosz, despite the four walks and a hit-by-pitch from Grosz. Grosz was dealing through five innings, before getting pulled by HC Cliff Godwin. Memphis managed to muster only one run through seven innings before plating three runs in the top of the 8th. However, it wasn’t enough, as the Tigers fell 10-4. East Carolina P Danny Beal (4-1) picked up the win in relief.

Looking to Bounce Back Saturday

A poor performance from Memphis’ starting pitching on Friday night put them behind early, which the Tigers were never able to recover from. Luckily, Memphis Baseball is in prime position for a bounce-back game on Saturday, as Memphis sends out P Dalton Fowler (5-4, 3.78 ERA). The game will be streamed on ESPN+ at 3 PM Central Time.