MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Just 17 games into the season, the Memphis Tigers showed flashes of spectacular play.
They also had a solid record sitting at just 10-7.
“I really like this team,” head coach Daron Schoenrock said. “I felt like this particular team had the right nuggets, the right ingredients to continue to get better as the year went on. We could defend, and we could pitch.”
Then on March 12, things quickly changed due to the coronavirus.
The first thing to go, their weekend series at Indiana.
“We get back to campus, and we are trying to get info, trying to figure out where we go from here; there was some sad moments in that meeting because the seniors realized this probably is going to be it,” Schoenrock said.
Their fears unfortunately came true, as the NCAA canceled all spring sports due to the pandemic, ending the season that was less than a month into play.
“It kind of prepares those seniors where, the way things unfold on the field are going to determine our fate, not the way things go when you get a tweet from their cell phone,” Schoenrock said. “It felt like it was out of their hands, and that’s a helpless feeling.”
Now, even though these young men have had something they love taken away from them, the Tigers know their sacrifice is for a greater cause.
“Our little saying is the next 90 feet, it’s 90 feet from home to first, 90 feet between the bases, so our next 90 feet right now is to defeat the virus and set baseball aside and do our part as a college baseball community to help our administration defeat this,” Schoenrock said.
