Memphis:
Baseball season is finally back in full swing in the 901 and the diamond Tigers are ready to hit the field and take the College Baseball world by storm.
2018 was a rough year for the Tigers finishing dead last in AAC play with a dismal record of 5-19 in conference play, and 20-36 overall the Tigers can only go up from that point. Heading into the 2019 season Memphis will have a lot to prove after being picked to finish last again by the coaches around the AAC. The players this year will wear “ TOM” on their jersey sleeves. It stands for Today’s Opportunities Matter. It will serve as a reminder to reduce long-term big goals to little in-the-moment goals.
Coach Schoenrock had this to say about the projected low finish:
“It’s probably based on last year, what we lost, what’s coming back … I can’t fault the coaches for doing that”, “But they don’t know what we did in the fall and additions we made and changing the mindset of a pretty mature senior class.”
Coach Daron Schoenrock will be coaching his 15th season as the Memphis Tiger manager. Coach Schoenrock has compiled a 382- 430 record at Memphis, including Coach of the year awards in 2013.
This offseason has seen a complete culture change starting from the top going all the way down to the very bottom of the program. The Tigers have completely changed the entire culture surrounding the program starting with the hiring of former St. Louis Cardinal and World Series Champion, Jason Motte. Motte joined the staff back in June 2018 to become the Director of Player Development.
Motte pitched for nine seasons in the MLB, recording a 3.30 career ERA, with a 27-15 record and 60 saves. Motte played a huge role in leading the ST. Louis Cardinals to the 2011 World Series Championship.
The Tigers will have one goal this season and that is to make it Omaha as part of the College World Series. Coach Schoenrcok had this to say about the goal;
“ Our goal is to get to Omaha, And this league provides you a vehicle to do that if you take care of your business on the weekends in a tough RPI league and then take care of business in the midweek. You get in middle part of this league to the upper part of this league, you’re going to the (AAC) tournament with a chance of being a Regional team.
“You’ve seen over last five or six years; a team gets hot in the Regional and next thing you know you’re in Omaha. You saw it with Coastal Carolina, who’s very, very talented, but a dark horse, yeah, maybe. We watched a video today on Fresno State when they won it (in 2008). They were (8-12) at one point, and next thing you know they’re dog-piling in Omaha. Those kinds of dreams have to be in your mind.”
Memphis will turn to Colton Neel to be the leader for the Tigers this season. Neel will be a huge tool for the Tigers in 2019, playing both center field and joining the pitching rotation. Memphis will also look to Neel to lead by example both on and off the field this season.
“We haven’t utilized Colton as much as we should have on the mound and we’re going to this year, It creates a little bit of a dilemma: bring him in out of center field in the eighth inning, now what do you do in center field? You lose your DH. But is it more important to have him as a pitcher in this moment? If we think it is, we’re going to use him.” Coach Schoenrock said.
Memphis will open the 2019 season with the Indiana Hoosiers out of the Big 10. The Hoosiers are a Baseball powerhouse who won 40 games last season but ended the season on a low note by losing in the Austin, Texas regional. If the Tigers can find a way to win the series with the Hoosiers they will have made a major statement to the entire College Baseball world and most importantly to the fans across the city.
