And Cincinnati again on Saturday at 2 and Sunday at 1. Cincinnati has an RPI of 197. These last few games will decide whether Memphis gets that NCAA invite to the College Championships. *Right now* projections have us in --- without much time left really important not to lose this series.

BTW - Cincinnati is 2-15 against the RPI top 50. Those two wins are against Memphis.

Need to sweep Cincy if possible, for sure. Crowd support would help.

Revenge-Minded Memphis Hosts Cincinnati for Weekend Series
The Bearcats won 2-of-3 in earlier meeting in Cincinnati

The No. 24 Memphis Tigers are set to host the only team to beat them in a league series this season, Cincinnati, for a three-game set at FedExPark starting Friday at 6:30 p.m. The series will continue Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and conclude with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch Sunday.

Memphis climbed into the national rankings this week for the first time since 1994, as Baseball America tabbed the Tigers 24th in its weekly poll.

Prior to Saturday's first pitch, Memphis will retire the jersey of former player, assistant coach and head coach Jeff Hopkins. The Memphis native posted 239 career wins over eight seasons and led the Tigers to an NCAA Regional in 1994. He is the current head coach at Collierville High School and won a State Championship in 2013.

Also before Saturday's game is the Tiger Scholarship Fund Donor Day. All TSF Donors receive free admission to the game as well as free barbecue from Central BBQ at the tent set up by the left field deck. The party starts when the gates open at 1:00 p.m.

Playing in one of the toughest leagues in the country, Memphis (30-13, 9-6) sits in a four-way tie for first place in the American Athletic Conference with South Florida, East Carolina and Houston.

With series wins over each of the three schools that share a 9-6 league record, Memphis holds the tie-breaker. The Tigers also picked up a road series win last week over UConn who is just two games back of first place.

The Tigers have won four straight games and eight of their last 10. The wins over Arkansas State and Mississippi Valley this week capped off the month of April, in which Memphis put up a 14-6 record.

Tucker Tubbs continued his power-surge at the plate by blasting his second grand slam of the season, and 13th home run overall, to rally the Tigers for an 8-3 win at Arkansas State Tuesday. The senior first baseman is batting .331 and leads the team in doubles (14), homers (14) and runs batted in (47). His home run total ranks seventh nationally.

Darien Tubbs has reached base safely in 22 straight games and hit safely in 17 of those games. The sophomore center fielder and lead-off batter has been on base in every game this season but had an earlier streak snapped in the second game of the East Carolina series after only reaching on an error.

He's batting .324 with 55 hits, seven doubles, two triples and five home runs. His team-leading 50 runs scored are tied for the 10th most in the nation.

Kane Barrow has driven in a total of seven runs over his last four games, including the series-clinching two-run homer in the 15th inning at UConn. The Tigers' left fielder boasts a team-high .358 batting average with 64 hits, 34 RBI and 29 runs scored.

Nolan Blackwood picked up his first win of the season last week at UConn, tossing six innings of scoreless relief in extra innings. The Tigers' sophomore closer has a near-microscopic 0.75 ERA and 12 saves, which ranks eighth in the country.

Cincinnati (13-30, 4-11) is led by the American's preseason player of the year, right fielder Ian Happ. The junior is batting .374 this season with 12 doubles and 11 home runs.

Memphis held Happ down for the first two games of the series earlier this season before he broke out in a big way in the finale. Happ went 5-for-5 with two home runs and the Bearcats won the game in 12 innings to clinch to series.

The Bearcats have struggled the past two weekends in league play, getting swept by Houston and Tulane.

Important note for TSF donors:

Quote:Also before Saturday's game is the Tiger Scholarship Fund Donor Day. All TSF Donors receive free admission to the game as well as free barbecue from Central BBQ at the tent set up by the left field deck. The party starts when the gates open at 1:00 p.m.

3 AAC series left.

2 at home (Cincy, Tulane)
1 on the road (UCF)

Remaining Schedule

05/01/15 vs. Cincinnati * FedExPark 6:30 PM CT
05/02/15 vs. Cincinnati * FedExPark 2:00 PM CT
05/03/15 vs. Cincinnati * FedExPark 1:00 PM CT
05/08/15 at UCF * Orlando, Fla. 5:30 PM CT
05/09/15 at UCF * Orlando, Fla. 3:00 PM CT
05/10/15 at UCF * Orlando, Fla. 10:00 AM CT
05/12/15 vs. Tennessee-Martin FedExPark 1:00 PM CT
05/12/15 vs. Tennessee-Martin Millington, Tenn. 6:30 PM CT
05/14/15 vs. Tulane * FedExPark 6:30 PM CT
05/15/15 vs. Tulane * FedExPark 6:30 PM CT
05/16/15 vs. Tulane * FedExPark 1:00 PM CT

It is baseball, so singular losses do not hurt in the same manner as basketball. With that, between the Cincy and Martin games it would help if our team wins 4/5. Do that and even 3-3 or possibly even 2-4 against Tulane and UCF barring a winless AAC tourney probably gets a regional.

Word on the street is the good fan that "talked" to Bowen at the spring game has bought the left field deck. All good posters from the org are invited.

(05-01-2015 09:19 AM)Brother Bluto Wrote:  Word on the street is the good fan that "talked" to Bowen at the spring game has bought the left field deck. All good posters from the org are invited.

I heard the same thing all the way out in San Diego this week. But I'm having a hard time believing it.

(05-01-2015 09:04 AM)umbluegray Wrote:  Important note for TSF donors:

Quote:Also before Saturday's game is the Tiger Scholarship Fund Donor Day. All TSF Donors receive free admission to the game as well as free barbecue from Central BBQ at the tent set up by the left field deck. The party starts when the gates open at 1:00 p.m.

Well --- be there tonight - but be certain to make it Saturday.

Going to the Sunday game.

(05-01-2015 09:19 AM)Brother Bluto Wrote:  Word on the street is the good fan that "talked" to Bowen at the spring game has bought the left field deck. All good posters from the org are invited.

Wonder what the criteria is for a good poster.

I HEARS THAT MCIK LITE HAS RENTED THE LEFT FIELD LOUNGE AND ONE OF THE SEUNKEN HECKLERS IS THROWING OUT THA FIST PITCH !!!!!

Just scrolling thru the numbers on the warrennolan site:

Memphis is 1 of only 10 teams with 10 or more wins vs RPI top 50

(05-01-2015 03:24 PM)TigerStrong Wrote:  I HEARS THAT MCIK LITE HAS RENTED THE LEFT FIELD LOUNGE AND ONE OF THE SEUNKEN HECKLERS IS THROWING OUT THA FIST PITCH !!!!!

So not only have they ruined the Spring football game, now they are going to hijack baseball?

I wish they would just go root for Duke.

Don't be like that.

Mick Light obviously supports football, basketball and baseball and they say he graduated from the Herff College of Engineering too.

(05-01-2015 03:24 PM)TigerStrong Wrote:  I HEARS THAT MCIK LITE HAS RENTED THE LEFT FIELD LOUNGE AND ONE OF THE SEUNKEN HECKLERS IS THROWING OUT THA FIST PITCH !!!!!

YAY, Micky! I knew he was a good guy. I hope y'all didn't push him into anything, though. I remember how I first met Micky. Y'all were ganging up on him here and giving him **** when he was only asking about the lowest price FB ticket for his friend.

Budget must be tight - their bus is at the Hampton inn on poplar

ewwwwwwww.

Heckle long and heckle hard, you guys!

Damn is something about those bearcat uniforms kryptonite to the Tigers? 2-0 bad guys top 4th.