On a Sunday afternoon in Greenville, NC, Memphis Baseball (26-25, 8-13 American) dropped their third game in a row by a score of 11-7, as they were swept by #14 East Carolina (38-14, 15-6 American). The Pirates, who will almost certainly go up in the rankings after this weekend, put up double digits in the runs category for their third consecutive game in this weekend’s series.
Recap
Memphis P Luke Ellis (3-3, 5.08 ERA) found himself on the bump to start for the Tigers on Sunday. He didn’t last long, giving up four earned runs on five hits in 1.1 innings pitched. East Carolina proceeded to score seven of their eleven runs in the first three innings, taking an early 7-1 lead. East Carolina 3B Alec Makarewicz smashed two home runs in the game, helping #14 East Carolina secure the series sweep over the Tigers. Memphis 1B Anthony Hansen also hit a home run in the ninth inning, but the Tigers could not complete the rally in the ninth inning. #14East Carolina ended up beating Memphis 11-7.
Takeaways
There are some consistent themes that we can take away from Memphis Baseball’s three-game series against #14 East Carolina.
Memphis Trails Big Early
In two of the three games in this series, Memphis Baseball got behind early. On Friday, the Pirates scored six runs in the first inning and ended up winning 10-4. On Sunday, a similar situation unfolded, as the Tigers trailed 5-0 after the second inning. Their starting pitching must be better if they want to compete against the top teams in the country like East Carolina.
Too Little, Too Late
Memphis’ offense failed to show up in the first half of this series’ games. In fact, the Tigers only scored two runs in the first half of the games during this series. When pitchers aren’t getting early run support, it puts more pressure on them to pitch well. And outside of P Dalton Fowler throwing a gem through the first six innings in Saturday’s game, the Memphis pitching staff haven’t performed as well as they did during their five-game winning streak. Memphis scored the bulk of their runs toward the end of the game, scoring six of their seven runs in the seventh inning or later in today’s game. The Tigers must score earlier and take advantage of runners in scoring position, or else they will struggle to find success.
Memphis Baseball finds themselves back home against Tulane on Thursday at 6 PM Central, which commences Senior Weekend for the Tigers.
