The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
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Mississippi State
Grand Slam Dooms Blazers At Mississippi State
2/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 26, 2008
STARKVILLE, Miss. -A fifth inning grand slam by Mississippi State (2-2) designated hitter Jason Nappi gave the team the lead for good Tuesday night at Dudy Noble Field as the UAB Blazers (2-3) were dealt a 9-2 defeat by the Bulldogs. UAB senior left fielder Phil Bell was responsible for three of the Blazers' five hits.
Bell finished the day 3-for-5 with two doubles and a single. Senior first baseman Ryan Keedy and junior catcher Allen Aubin each had one hit in the game.
Freshman left-hander Forrest Moore (1-0) earned the win on the mound for MSU. Moore finished the game with five strikeouts, three walks and two earned runs allowed in five innings.
Aaron Weatherford earned his first save of the season after closing out the final two innings with four strikeouts.
UAB sophomore lefty Shay Crawford (0-1) pitched a very sharp game until giving up the grand slam in the fifth to earn the loss. Crawford finished his day with three strikeouts and three walks in giving up six hits for five runs.
Nappi had just the one hit on the day, while catcher Cody Freeman had a pair of singles and a double in the game to finish 3-for-4 to pace the Bulldogs.
UAB jumped out to 2-0 lead in the first. Sophomore second baseman Jonathan Merritt walked to lead off the inning and then moved up to third on a double to deep left field by Bell.
Merritt scored on a sacrifice fly by Taylor and then Bell scored on a double steal by he and sophomore third baseman Luke Stewart.
MSU got one run back in the second when Freeman drove in right fielder Jeff Flagg on a single up the middle to make it 2-1.
In the third, UAB was poised to light up the scoreboard again as it loaded the bases with no outs, but Moore was able to retire three straight without giving up a run to hold the deficit at 2-1.
That stop would pay off for Moore in the bottom of the fifth when a pair of singles and a walk issued by Crawford loaded the bases for Nappi. With two outs, Nappi took a 2-2 offering from Crawford deep to left field where Bell gave chase but ran out of real estate as all four runs came in to score on the grand slam, giving MSU a 5-2 lead.
Mississippi State went on to add four runs in the bottom of the eighth to put the game out of reach.
The Blazers will return home to host defending Ivy League champion Brown for a four-game series beginning Friday at 3:00 p.m. at Young Memorial Field.
