The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Jacksonville State
UAB And Jacksonville State Split Pair Of Blowouts Wednesday
5/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 7, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB Blazers earned a 17-3 victory in its resumed game versus Jacksonville State at Young Memorial Field Wednesday night but the Gamecocks were able to rebound and win game two of the night, 17-8. Third baseman Luke Stewart combined for five hits and six RBI in the two games to lead UAB.
The Blazers are now 20-29 with the split Wednesday, while Jacksonville State moves to 29-19.
Justin King (3-3) was the pitcher of record in both games for Jacksonville State. After starting the first game back on April 22 before a light outage at Young Memorial forced the completion of the game to be played Wednesday, King was tabbed with the loss before coming back to earn a relief win in the second game, throwing 4.0 innings and allowing one run while striking out five.
Dustin Colburn (2-1) got the win in game one for UAB after dealing 3.0 innings and allowing no earned runs back on April 22. Benji Waite (0-3) lost game two after giving up six runs in 1.2 innings of relief.
Stewart was 2-for-3 with five RBI and a home run in game one, while center fielder Cody McMurry was 3-for-6 with five RBI.
Designated hitter Brint Hardy had three hits in the first game as well with two RBI.
In game two, designated hitter Billy Lichtner led the way by going 3-for-4 with three RBI, while Stewart was 3-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored.
Right fielder Clay Whittemore was 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored to pace JSU in game one, while center fielder Daniel Adamson was 4-for-6 with three RBI in game two.
UAB led the continued game, 7-3, in the bottom of the fifth when play resumed Wednesday and quickly put the game out of reach as a three-run homer by Stewart highlighted a four-run sixth inning for the Blazers to open an 11-3 lead.
The Blazers went on to score three runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to pull away with the 17-3 victory.
UAB continued to push runs across to begin the second game as the Blazers took a 5-0 lead in the first inning. Second baseman Nick Crawford drove in shortstop Jonathan Merritt with his first career triple to get the scoring started and then RBI singles by first baseman Ryan Keedy and Hardy scored two more runs before catcher Kevin Cope drove in the final run of the inning with a double down the right field line.
Jacksonville State came back to score one run in the second and then five singles helped score five runs in the third to take a 6-5 lead.
The Blazers evened the score, 6-6, in the bottom of the third when Cope singled home Lichtner, but the Gamecocks came back around in the top of the fourth and plated six runs with right fielder Todd Cunningham providing the biggest blow of the inning with a two-run double to help JSU build a 12-6 lead.
JSU went on to add five more runs in the eighth to pull away for the 17-8 victory.
UAB will now travel to Orlando, Fla. to take on UCF in a three-game Conference USA series this weekend beginning Friday at 5:30 p.m. CT.
