University of Houston
Memphis
Baseball Drops Opener at C-USA Tournament to Memphis
5/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 23, 2007
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - Memphis smashed four home runs on the way to a 12-4 win over the University of Houston baseball team Wednesday morning during the first day of the 2007 Conference USA Tournament at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
The Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two-and-a-half inning and never looked back in taking the win against the Cougars. Memphis rapped out at least one hit every inning and scored at least one run in all but two frames.
Bryan Tully went 2-for-4 with a run to lead the Cougar offense.
UH starter Aaron Brown collected the loss and fell to 6-6 after surrendering five runs off six hits and two walks with a strikeout in only 2.1 innings.
Josh Irvin batted 4-for-4 with a double, home runs, two runs and three RBIs to lead a Tiger offense, which outhit the Cougars 19-9 and saw every starter rap out at least one hit in the game. K.K. Chalmers went 3-for-5 with two runs, two stolen bases and an RBI, while Adam Amar went 3-for-5 with two home runs and a game-high five RBIs. Kyle Norrid batted 2-for-5 with a double and two runs, and Alex Fennell batted 2-for-5 with a run, double and RBI. Bill Moss finished the day 2-for-5 with two runs.
Memphis starter Brennon Martin earned the complete-game win, holding the Cougars to four runs off nine hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts.
With the loss, the Cougars fell to 28-27 overall, while Memphis improved to 34-23. The Cougars now will meet No. 8 seed UCF game at 9 a.m., (8 a.m., CDT) Thursday in the first elimination game of the tournament. Fans always can follow live stats by clicking on the "Gametracker" link on the front page of UHCougars.com or on the "Schedule and Results" page off the Baseball main page.
Redshirt freshman southpaw Wes Musick will make his 15th start of the season during the second round of the 2007 Conference USA Tournament. This season, the Lufkin native has posted a 6-4 record with 64 strikeouts and a 3.18 ERA in 85.0 innings. He also ranks third among all C-USA pitchers with a 2.70 ERA in league games only.
Musick saw his four-game winning streak snapped in a 4-0 loss to C-USA rival Southern Miss on May 18 at Cougar Field. It was his first loss since dropping an 8-2 decision to Northwestern State on March 3 in the middle game of that non-conference series.
He leads all Cougar pitchers in ERA, strikeouts, innings pitched and opponents' batting average (.249) and is one of only five players in C-USA to rank among the Top Eight individual leaders in all pitching Triple Crown categories. In addition, he was named the C-USA Pitcher of the Week on March 26 after striking out 10 batters while allowing only five hits in eight shutout innings during the middle game of the UCF series on March 24.
Musick is the only Cougar pitcher this season that has not made an appearance out of the bullpen. In addition, he earned the Cougars' Opening Day start against Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 6, becoming the first freshmen hurler since Jason Hart against Texas Southern on Feb. 7, 1991 to accomplish that feat.
In his last start, Musick saw his four-game winning streak come to an end after giving up four runs off 12 hits and a walk with four strikeouts in 6.2 innings against Southern Miss during the middle game of that series on May 18 at Cougar Field.
Thursday's game will be Musick's first career appearance at the league's annual postseason event.
If the Cougars face Rice on Thursday, it will be Musick's first career appearance against the Owls. He sat out the regular-season series on April 13-15 at Cougar Field due to elbow soreness but returned to action the next weekend.
Thursday's game will be Musick's second start against the Knights. In the middle game of the regular-season series in Orlando on March 24, he allowed only five hits with a career-best-tying 10 strikeouts in eight shutout innings during a 3-0 win. He was honored as the league's Pitcher of the Week following that performance.
The Tigers grabbed a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning when Amar smashed a two-run homer off the right-field foul pole.
In the third inning, Memphis pushed its lead to 5-0, courtesy of Irvin's towering, three-run homer to right field.
The Cougars answered in the bottom of the frame, getting back-to-back home runs from Chris Joseph and Ryan Lormand to pull to within 5-2. It was the second time this that the Cougars blasted back-to-back jacks in a game.
Memphis scored another run in the next half inning when Chalmers' RBI-double to left center plated Fennell, who led off with a ground-rule double to left field.
In the fifth inning, Fennell lined an RBI-double through the left side to score Norrid for a 7-2 Memphis lead.
Michael Murray and Amar blasted solo home runs, and Tyler Huelsing later added an RBI-single in the sixth inning for a 10-2 Tiger lead.
The Tigers pushed their advantage to 11-2 in the seventh inning on Amar's RBI-double.
In the eighth inning, the Cougars scored a single run on Jimmy Cesario's RBI-single up the middle to score Tully.
The Tigers pushed their final run across in the top of the ninth on Amar's sacrifice fly to left field that scored Chalmers.
The Cougars scored their final run of the day in the ninth inning when Bryan Pounds' double down the left-field line plated Austin Goolsby, who reached on a pinch-hit single.
