MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Trailing 3-0 at the seventh inning stretch, the Memphis Tigers (2-0) rallied to tie the game with a three-run seventh inning, while Taylor Howell came through two innings later with a pinch-hit walk-off single in a 4-3 Memphis victory over the Valparaiso Beacons (0-2). The Tigers got seven-shutout innings from the bullpen, while Valparaiso’s bullpen allowed four runs in only 2.1 frames.
Memphis: 4, Valparaiso: 3
How it happened:
- The first three Beacons of the day to face LHP Dalton Fowler (ND) reached base, while an RBI single from 1B Kyle Schmack and a bases loaded walk from Spencer Warfield gave the visitors a 2-0 lead
- Valparaiso added another run in the second frame, as four straight batters reached with two outs, as once again a bases loaded walk plated a run
- The Tigers’ offense had early chances against RHP Colin Fields (ND), but left two men in scoring position in the second inning, the bases loaded in the third, and two men on base in the fourth
- Fields allowed only four hits and struck out eight over six scoreless innings
- RHP Nolan Lebamoff relieved Fields to begin the seventh inning and recorded just one out, as 1B Chris Swanberg greeted him with a single and LF Ian Bibiloni followed with an RBI double
- Two batters later, RF Blake Daniels pulled the Tigers within a run with an RBI single, while Lebamoff then walked SS Ben Brooks and departed for RHP Nathan Chasey (L, 0-1)
- Chasey walked each of the first two batters that he faced, but retired both 3B Logan Kohler and C Tanner Booth, as the Tigers left the go-ahead run at third base
- In the ninth, Brooks led off with a ground ball to Chasey, but the Valparaiso pitcher threw it away at first base for a leadoff error, while DH Jacob Compton followed with a double and forced the Beacons to go back to the bullpen
- With two men in scoring position, RHP Bobby Nowak struck out 2B Austin Baskin, but pinch hitter Taylor Howell poked an RBI single down the left field line that gave Memphis the 4-3 walk-off win
Notables:
- After just two innings from Dalton Fowler, Blake Wimberley allowed just one hit and struck out seven over five innings of shutout relief
- Dalton Kendrick (W, 1-0) followed Wimberley with two frames of one-hit scoreless relief
- Ian Bibiloni recorded his second straight multi-hit effort and is a team-best 5-7 (.714) with two doubles and two RBIs through two games
- Jacob Compton recorded his first multi-hit game in a Memphis uniform and is one of five Memphis players with multiple hits through two games
- Over the first two games of the season, the Memphis bullpen hasn’t allowed a run and has surrendered just two hits over 10 innings
Up Next:
- Memphis and Valparaiso will wrap up the series Sunday at 1 p.m. at FedExPark Avron Fogelman Field
- The Tigers will then host Central Arkansas Tuesday before Brown University comes to Memphis for a weekend set