The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Rice
Roberson's Gem Leads Blazers Past Top-Seeded Rice
5/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 21, 2008
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NEW ORLEANS, La. - The UAB baseball team became just the second eighth seed in Conference USA Championship history to knock off a No. 1 seed when the Blazers beat the Rice Owls, 8-2, in the opening round of the 2008 Entergy C-USA Championship at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium Wednesday. Kyle Roberson threw 8.0 innings and gave up just two runs to earn the win on the mound.
Roberson (6-6) gave up seven hits and struck out three in the win.
"I had good confidence," Roberson said of his outing. "I started off struggling in the first three innings, leaving the ball up, but settled in after that and felt like I got in a rhythm like I was against Southern Miss and started throwing all three pitches for strikes."
"That was just brilliant," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said of Roberson's performance. "We had struggled on the mound all year until the last two weeks but they've (pitching staff) hung in their and continued to improve. This was another really courageous performance for us."
First baseman Ryan Keedy went 3-for-4 with two doubles, three RBI and a run scored.
"This is absolutely huge for our program with the tradition and talent that Rice has," Keedy said. "Everyone was expecting them to win this game and even the tournament so this is just great for our program."
Center fielder Cody McMurry was 3-for-5 with two RBI, while shortstop Jonathan Merritt, second baseman Nick Crawford and right fielder Brint Hardy each had two hits in the game.
Matt Langwell (5-1) was tabbed with his first loss of the season after giving up four runs on eight hits in 3.2 innings as the Owls' starter.
UAB improves to 25-32 with the win to match its win total from 2007, while the fifth-ranked Rice Owls are now 42-12.
"It's a great win for our team and great win for our program," Shoop said. "Rice is certainly one of the elite programs in the country and certainly the elite program in our league and it's a super win for our kids and for the long term. It's just a really good win for our program."
UAB took a 1-0 lead in the first when Keedy doubled to right-center field and then scored on an RBI-single to center field by McMurry.
After the Owls got one run in the bottom half of the first, UAB went up 2-1 in the second as Hardy doubled before stealing third and scoring on a throwing error by Rice catcher Adam Zornes.
The Blazers then chalked up two more runs in the top of the third to open up a 4-1 lead. Merritt led off the inning with a double and later scored on a single through right side by Keedy. Crawford scored the second run of the inning after reaching on a bunt single and then scored on a single by McMurry.
Rice added a run in the bottom half of the third to cut the deficit to 4-2 where the score remained until the top of the sixth when the Blazers produced a three-run inning to take a 7-2 lead. Crawford scored designated hitter Austin Taylor for the first run of the inning with an RBI-single, while Keedy followed that up by hitting a two-run double to center field.
Keedy suffered a leg injury on the double and, after trying to stay in the game, was forced to check out of the contest.
Third baseman Andrew Manning laid down a sacrifice bunt in the top of the eighth to squeeze home Merritt to take an 8-2 advantage.
In the bottom half of the eighth, Rice loaded the bases with two outs and then center fielder Jared Gayheart came to the plate and hit a sharp ground ball down the third base line which Manning laid out for and made a diving stop and then rose to his feet and dove at the third base bag to get a force out at third to get out of the inning to maintain the 8-2 lead.
UAB will now advance to play fourth-seeded Houston at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Houston topped fourth-seeded East Carolina, 5-4, in 10 innings.
