MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Two home runs and a solid start by Sam Moll helped Memphis (16-19, 6-5) even the Conference USA series with East Carolina (24-10-1, 7-3-1) as the Tigers defeated the Pirates 5-2 on Saturday at FedExPark.
A night after stranding five runners on third base, Memphis moved runners to second and third with one out in the second. The Tigers stranded the runners there as East Carolina starter Tyler Joyner struck out Tucker Tubbs and forced Colton Simbeck into a groundout to end the inning.
A two-out RBI single by Adam McClain gave Memphis a 1-0 lead in the third. Ethan Gross recorded his second hit of the game with a one-out single to right-center and he moved to second on a wild pitch. Ford Wilson hit next and grounded to short, but East Carolina elected to get the out at first as Gross moved to third. McClain ripped the single through the left side and Memphis got its first two-out RBI in three games.
Tucker Tubbs ripped his first career home run with two outs in the fourth to give Memphis a 2-0 lead, but East Carolina scored two runs in the fifth to knot the score at 2-2. Zach Wright singled to right and advanced to second on an error in right field. Wright scored on an RBI single by Jack Reinheimer to end Memphis start Sam Moll shutout streak at 20.1 innings pitched. Rienheimer later scored on a RBI single by Tim Younger.
The Tigers regained the lead in the seventh, but East Carolina got out of the inning having stranded the bases full. Back-to-back singles and a walk loaded the bases for Derrick Thomas and he roped a single off the top of the wall, but the high fly allowed just one run to score. Tubbs followed with a sacrifice fly to center and Memphis gained a 4-2 lead. A second walk in the inning loaded the bases for the second time in the inning, but East Carolina escaped the jam.
East Carolina moved the potential tying run to scoring position following a single, error and sacrifice bunt. A line-out got the Tigers an out away from getting out of the jam and Tiger reliever Jonathan Van Eaton forced a fly out to end the eighth. Thomas ripped a solo homer to left-center to lead off the ninth and that gave Memphis a 5-2 lead going to the ninth.
Jacob Wilson, Gross, McClain and Thomas each recorded two hits for Memphis as the Tigers out-hit East Carolina 12-9. Tubbs and Thomas each had homers and two RBI in the game. Moll (4-3) picked up the win as he allowed two runs, both unearned, on nine hits in 7.1 innings. Tyler Joyner (5-1) was saddled with the loss as he allowed four runs on nine hits in five innings.
Memphis and East Carolina square off in the rubber match of the series on Sunday at FedExPark. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
