The roller coaster season continued for the University of Memphis baseball team. They swept Alcorn State over the weekend, but they dropped a heartbreaker to No. 14 Vanderbilt on Tuesday.
The Tigers (22-20, 4-8 AAC) shift their focus to inner-conference foe University of South Florida for a three-game series in Tampa, Fla., this weekend.
Memphis head coach Daron Schoenrock acknowledges the up-and-down play of his team this season, but he said they've been putting in the necessary work to continue getting better everyday.
"I like the way we're playing, and I like the passion that we showed tonight," Schoenrock said after the Vanderbilt loss. "If we can bottle that up and take it on the road with us, I think we'll be okay. This team will surprise you at moments. They surprised me tonight with the way they battled in the box."
USF (22-18, 8-7 AAC) is coming in off back-to-back losses to Houston and Florida Gulf Coast University, and the Bulls are 13-12 at home.
Schoenrock expects a pitching duel in the first two games against South Florida.
"Another two good arms," the tenth-year coach said. "Their Friday and Saturday guys are good. They're high-velocity guys like we saw (against Vanderbilt), and we're gonna have to be on top of our game."
Against the Commodores (30-12), the Tigers jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Junior Carter White drove in the run on an RBI single.
Memphis junior pitcher Dylan Toscano threw an outstanding ballgame for the Blue and Gray, striking out eight and allowing just six hits in 7.2 innings of work. Schoenrock said Toscano just let on pitch get a little too high in the zone, and Vanderbilt capitalized.
The Commodores got on the board in the top of the eight with back-to-back two-out, two-strike doubles.
Despite giving up the lead, the Tigers refused to go away. Junior Kane Barrow singled to lead off the bottom of ninth, but the U of M couldn't move him in to score. With the base knock, Barrow extended his on-base streak to 14 straight games.
Walker Buehler pitched a complete game for Vandy, allowing one run and striking out 10.
"That was probably one of the best arms we've faced all year as far as pure quickness and velocity," Schoenrock said of Buehler. "He pitched down in the zone, and we matched him pitch for pitch. They got a couple of swings off in the right moment tonight and we didn't and that was the difference in the game."
Junior Caleb Wallingford has headlined Memphis' pitching staff all season long. The lefty owns a 5-2 record and 1.14 ERA.
Offensively, Barrow has been the most consistent in the batter's box. He's batting .298 on the season with three home runs and 19 RBIs.
Both Barrow and Wallingford hope to keep playing at a high level starting on Friday.
The first pitch against the Bulls is slated for Friday at 6 p.m. The two teams will also square off on Saturday at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m.
