March 30, 2007

Final Stats

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Memphis pitcher Ben Grisham pitched eight shutout innings, giving up five hits, one walk and striking out six to lead the Tigers to an 8-1 win over No. 29 Southern Miss, tonight, in the first game of the three-game Conference USA weekend series at Nat Buring Stadium in front of 427 in attendance.

Joey Lieberman led the Tigers with three hits and three RBIs, Chris Kirkland finished with three hits and one RBI, and K.K. Chalmers, Bill Moss and Adam Amar each finished with two hits. Moss had two RBIs, and Amar finished with one RBI.

Brian Dozier led the Golden Eagles with two hits. Trey Sutton, James Ewing, Jody Blount and Eddie Burger each finished with one hit.

Memphis (15-11, 1-3 C-USA) finished with eight runs on 14 hits, while Southern Miss (17-10, 1-3 C-USA) scored one run on six hits and committed a season-high four errors.

Ryan Belanger (5-2) dropped his second decision of the season, pitching six innings, giving up five runs on 10 hits, walking one and striking out four batters. Leighton Davis pitched the final two innings, giving up three runs, one earned, on four hits and striking out two batters.

Memphis took an early 5-0 lead in the second inning. Chris Kirkland hit an RBI single to center, Bill Moss was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Michael Murray and Lieberman hit a three-RBI double off the left field wall to score Kirkland, Chalmers and Moss.

The Tigers added a single run in the seventh inning to extend their lead to 6-0. Lieberman led off the inning with a single through the left side, moved to second on Kyle Norrid's sacrifice bunt and scored on Amar's single to left center.

Memphis added two more runs in the eighth inning to push their lead to 8-0. Kirkland led off the inning with a single to center, moved to second on Chalmers sacrifice bunt and scored when Will Petersen reached on a fielding error by Brian Dozier. Petersen moved to second on a fielding error by left fielder Chris Matesich and scored when Moss' fly ball to center field was dropped.

Jody Blount led off the ninth inning with a double to left field, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Jordan King.

The two teams play the second of the three-game series on Saturday at Nat Buring Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.